A Star in the Making
by DEADACCOUNT-APOLOGIES
Summary: The Mushroom Kingdom has had a strong history, struggling against forces from fire-breathing Koopas to malevolent aliens. But what if something outside of history itself raised its hand at this timeline... Mario and co. have to fight for the Kingdom once more, and this time, the whole of creation is at stake...
1. The Darkest of Lights

**I do not own Mario, nor any other 8-bit sprites. All I have is this lousy T-shirt.**

It was rare for Toads to wander outside the confines of Toad Town in the darkest of nights. Almost unheard of, really- generations of ghost stories passed down to the youngest of Toads saw to that. Each one was just an echo of the original with some minor differences, rather like a drawn-out 'Chinese whispers.' Yet each one always remained equally dismal in tone, spooking away any notions of venturing out into the gloom.

At least, it generally did. Regrettably for Mucho, however, he was not so easily fazed. In fact, trotting out into the night, Boos and Underhands were the last things on his mind. Even if they did exist, why should they care for a fun guy like him, when a much less common sight was grazing the skies? For tonight, a cascade of motley stars were dancing across the clear black expanse.

Pretty enough, and rare too.

It was the liveliest miracle in nature, the sort of thing that'd demand wars would pause to take it in, colour by shining colour. Not that something like that ever happened. These stars were seen once every hundred years, only ever appreciated by so very few. Even among his star-fanatic friends, even within the combined knowledge of Peach's Castle's dwellers, the event was unknown, eluding even their most obscure myths and tales. Mucho, however, was the bearer of a long, long family secret. His great grandad, and his great grandad, and another great grandad before him...

Mucho's father, Gruuch, had almost broken down as he unleashed the knowledge onto him.

"Ah, if only I could go, my son," sighed Gruuch at the time, "but I know my calling. I've a role to hold. The princess needs her guards at hand, and I'd never let myself go if she and my allies were imperilled whilst I sat stargazing. No, son, I'm not that lucky. Us born with halfway to go till the event never have been."

His eyes shone then, and Mucho reflected that perhaps not even the falling stars would sparkle so bright. "This, my son, is your gift. Enjoy it for me, kiddo. Enjoy it for me."

And, as Mucho sat on his own, with only old Mushroom Kingdom relics for company, he didn't have any difficulty keeping his father's wishes. The night was _beautiful_. Beyond anything that tramped around in the kingdom below, even putting Peach's Castle to shame.

The wonder had been observed now for many generations back; yet, so very little was understood about it. Yes, an order- an impossible order- for the star fall had gradually been recorded over time, which the stars seemingly obeyed on every return. But that was it. Nobody knew why they kept returning. Nobody knew what the patterns had meant.

And nobody could ever guess at why, only from these ruins, could these celestial bodies be seen.

Then again, perhaps it was best this way- who wants to know everything? Mucho's family had always contented themselves, that even if they didn't comprehend, as least they were aware. At least they could see them, as lustrous blue bodies descended, followed by- _what was it again?_ Mucho shifted away from his antiquated telescope, checking his ancestor's notes. _Ah!_ Green. Yes, green balls of light, illuminating their sky for their brief seven seconds, and then purple and-

Except they didn't. Mucho frowned. This isn't right. From what he could read, at this point, purple stars should be sinking gently down, disappearing abruptly into the forests below.

Not yellow. Not at this speed. They weren't, according to the ancestors, due for another few minutes yet. Mucho pondered for a second, then dismissed his curiosity. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; not some accurate study of a scientific phenomenon. His ancestors would have been too busy sitting, gawking, to note every detail exactly as seen. And he should be doing the same, not scrutinising archaic recordings from the past.

Peering again through his telescope, Mucho watched as the yellow stars passed, and onto the violet-

White. Mucho's elders must have been really awestruck. Afterwards, came orange-

Black. Now Mucho was really disturbed. There was no mention of any black shooting stars anywhere in his notes. In fact, there wasn't any mention of black stars among his social circles either. Not anywhere in the Kingdom. He'd been told about Ztars, of course- and had one foisted upon him by a notorious bully during his school days- but, somehow, Mucho could sense these were a far graver issue.

The black stars were still tumbling. How did his family neglect to mention this, of all things? His dilated right eye was almost glued to the looking glass, but he was afraid to believe what it revealed. He couldn't describe what it was about them that put his nerves on end; but other people wouldn't have been clueless anyway. The dread they emanated was too potent to miss.

And then Mucho's heart stopped. He stepped, fearfully, away from his telescope and rubbed his eyes, pinched his cheeks in a painful grip, then slowly moved back to his equipment.

It had stopped. The stars. The stars had halted, inexplicably, right in their tracks, like a video being paused on a click. Even their long stretching trails remained where they were, neither expanding or fading. As if time had just ceased.

At this point, Mucho knew he should run. Run and spread the news. Darn centuries of tradition; this sort of happening just didn't... _happen_. And, if it did, then something very serious was going on. He turned on his heels, pushed down his spotted cap and rushed back to Toad Town, back to comfort and familiarity.

_He couldn't._ Mucho's legs stayed on the spot, and even the blood in his legs felt like they had ended their journey. He was petrified now. This must be some sort of nightmare... Mucho tried again to pinch his flesh- _maybe I didn't try hard enough?_ he hoped- but even his arms and littlest fingers were resolutely stuck mid-stride. The gaze of his frantic eyes dashed to the now useless limbs. Or, they would have done- but, afraid and alone in an outre moment, not even his eyes would help him now.

The black stars regained their motion again, but now, they weren't crashing haphazardly towards the earth at all. They were going in a definite direction. Towards Mucho.

Mucho, facing towards the tall forest before him, never saw this terror soaring towards him. His mouth hung steadfast in a noiseless scream as the distance between them diminished.

Mucho wouldn't be stargazing again anytime soon.

* * *

**Hello! So... {awkward conversationalist} this is practically my first published attempt at fiction making (I procrastinate. So many trashed ideas...). Don't think this is to ask you to be gentle on me- actually, I would prefer if you beat the life and soul out of this part (if it has any at all!) and give some constructive criticism! I know for fact that I'm lacking in something, and if you could highlight my problems, that would really help. Anyhow, I plan to make this a tale decent in length, and it won't all be creepy going-ons like here, so don't let the tone put you off just yet!**


	2. Time for a Change

Seven o' clock. An alarm ringed its modest call, and Mario's eyes bolted open. His red bedsheets were flung across the room as the plumber shook with energy. He arched his plump body upwards, and, with a triumphant cry, leapt out of bed and punched the air.

Then, landing on the wooden floor below, froze. He sighed.

Luigi- his younger, taller twin brother- walked into the room in his typical green and blue dungarees, a plate of fried toast and mushrooms in his gloved hands. He watched as Mario slumped where he stood, and listlessly placed his breakfast on the corner desk.

"Really now, bro, I don't get why you bother still getting up at this hour," Luigi muttered. "Nothing's stirring at all these days aside from Mushroom Tea- just stand down for once, eh, bro?"

Mario knew it was true, but years of adventuring and princess-saving didn't prepare oneself for such eras coming about. It had been about a month now since Mario had last pushed his comfort zones- rescuing his friend Pauline from an overexcited D.K. in some underground train systems, or something; it felt too long ago now to remember- and his days were now spent pottering around the house. An age of prosperity- except it wasn't. There was no invigorating peace or joy sweeping the Kingdom; it was just _dull._

Bowser- Mario's persistent Koopa foe, continually running invasions on the Kingdom- seemed to have dried up his deposit of ideas. Wario was too busy devising some new mini games- "I'll be rich!" he had said, not for the first time- and all the kart races, parties, Olympic events and even basketball tournaments had long passed. There were news of a large fighting tournament and another Grand Prix coming later in the year, but they were _later in the year_. How was a plumber like him expected to keep himself busy when he was living in a static society?

Mario grabbed his plate and cutlery, and mechanically began to eat. He didn't really register the taste of freshly picked shrooms or smell of warm toast, even though Luigi had invested great effort into making it as special as possible to raise his brother's spirits.

After a few moments realising that his brother's mood would stay remarkably stubborn, Luigi walked out of the small bedroom, now sharing in Mario's gloom. He couldn't think of much else he could do to help- much as Mario opposed Bowser's repugnant plots, they always, at least, gave him an opportunity to act. Like a doctor- they may be horrified and enraged by the diseases they witness, but without these to tackle, what sort of direction could they really be taking?

...now that's a thought, decided Luigi. Mario took up work as a doctor several times before, hadn't he? Maybe a return would get him up and running- who knows, perhaps this whole silence was actually because everyone was too ill to get around to anything? 'Thinking about it,' Luigi considered, 'perhaps even I could have a go at it...' He grabbed around in the main room's cupboard, and, eventually, found an old medical book Professor E. Gadd had passed onto him long ago. Sitting down by the central table, flipping open the dusty volume, an optimistic smile graced Luigi's lips. _Yes- this could this work out quite nicely indeed..._

* * *

Toadsworth could tell something was dreadfully wrong- he hadn't been tired out for absolutely ages. Life as the Princess's steward was a whirlwind of worries- stressing over her risky exploits, panicking over her prolonged absences, fearing her kidnappers were subjecting her to unspeakable injustices... and don't get him started on the amount of walking it all involved. Oh, how his back ached, all the walking back and forth after her in her excited stages...

Yet, now that these fears have dissipated alongside the maelstroms of the Kingdom, Toadsworth was finding that strolling around was becoming the most pleasurable pastime of his days. With his duties no longer as pressing or numerous, his schedule now allowed for much more opportunity to see the Kingdom of which he fretted for so much.

It felt like stepping around in a new world; so much had the Castle's activities kept him from the land outside. But now, he was free! Free to smell the flowers in the fields, feel the warmth of the unfiltered sun on his weary skin, to dance and-

Toadsworth's bones cracked with an audible crunch, and he arched his back painfully. _Okay_... perhaps he hadn't regained enough vigour to dance, but he still felt younger than his body could recall.

He envied two Toad children playing in the field nearby, frolicking after each other in circles again and again. They seemed fairly young- about 8 or so, Toadsworth guessed- and were as happy-go-lucky as you would expect children to be.

Odd, though. Toadsworth looked closer at the two, and recognised their clothing- raggy red and orange cloths, with patches of white circles of wool dotted around them, symbolic of the types of mushrooms found in the wild. Now, Toadsworth was hardly the expert of what was and wasn't à la mode, but, unless he was very much mistaken, this range of clothing had faded out of style and production years ago, long before he had even been born. The two young Toads, though, were running around in them as if they weren't committing any fashion crime whatsoever.

Probably just playacting, Toadsworth guessed. Such a joy, to see the younger generation paying tribute to their past. _Ah, the past..._

Toadsworth shook himself out of his nostalgia, and gasped with shock upon looking at his trusty wristwatch. _Ten minutes_ he'd just spent lost in his memories! He despaired at his sentimentality- whatever happened to his focus and his in-the-moment mindset? The watch he wore reflected the Toad that he was- old and battered, and on the way to an unceremonious retirement.

The watch jumped back twenty minutes. Toadsworth frowned. He knew it wasn't much compared to the newest models, but flying back twenty minutes was a tad _too_ flawed for him to tolerate. As if realising his scrutiny, the hands of the watch jumped back to half past seven.

"You stale old thing, you..." murmured Toadsworth to himself. Looking up again, he realised that the two young Toads he had been watching before were still engaged in their simple play, making the same paths without end and without tiring.

_Had they been romping around all this time?_ Toadsworth admired their liveliness, though their originality was somewhat lacking. Why couldn't they muck around like the other modern kids; drawing pictures, playing tag, or even those newfangled gadgets- what were they called again? Those small little 3D handheld things... 'Ah, yes!' Toadsworth remembered. 'Those gadgets, those Ninte-'

He lost his track of thought all of a sudden as the two kids vanished. He gaped. His mind didn't slip away from the present day right then, he was certain. He didn't look away and miss the two going away. They had just _disappeared_. Right into thin air.

Now this was nonsense. Two little Toad boys can't just evaporate just like that. It was a magic trick; it must have been. Rationalising what he was, Toadsworth swung round from stupefaction to crotchetiness. Trick an old Toad like him, now, would they?

"Well, I'll show you a trick or two!" Toadsworth shouted into the air.

With newly found fervour, he rushed across to where the two had been just a few moments ago- where they must be hiding themselves somehow, Toadsworth reasoned- and threw his arms out, reaching for whatever invisible cloak or modern trickery they had used to obscure themselves.

_There was nothing._ He stepped around adamantly for a few moments, knowing that, in a second or two, he'll feel his fingers collide with soft, squishy flesh, and the kids would get a good what for or two.

Minutes passed. Nothing.

At this point, Toadsworth slowed to a halt, realising that his complaints would not be expelled anytime soon. He hated to admit it, but two tiny Toads had bested an experienced steward of his wisdom. No wonder the Princess was so often stolen away- if he couldn't even handle two meddlesome kids...

And there they were again. Appearing out of the blue just as they had dissipated away, the two had returned, still chasing after each other as if nothing had just happened.

Toadsworth shrieked with surprise, and once again then, but now of sheer vexation. 'As if it weren't crude enough to play tricks on an elder like me,' Toadsworth seethed, 'they have the hauteur to reappear so I would think myself delirious! Well, now, this is most, _most_ inexcusable!'

Wasting no time to confront his tormentors, Toadsworth shot out a tense hand towards the taller of two, resolute that they would be forced to see the errors of their ways.

His hand passed right through the boy. Toadsworth froze. This couldn't be right... As if to prove him wrong, the second Toad followed through, dashing through his arm as if it were a feature only in fiction. But there was no fiction in this; this was truth. A weird truth, a disturbing and unheard of truth, but truth nonetheless.

Toadsworth, timidly, inched his body a few steps forward, dreading what he knew would happen, but testing it nonetheless. Just as he expected, both of the kids ran their cycle through him without any acknowledgement.

He felt a gulp build itself up within his throat. For once, he wished this was Bowser, that it was a problem that made sense. A fear that could be explained.

His watch jumped forward another three hours. And the Mushroom Kingdom's time was counting down.


	3. The Spirit Returns

_There was a barrel tumbling after him. Mario jumped deftly over the wooden hazard, like a pro. But of course, how couldn't he? He'd been doing this sorta things for ages now. Just look at his score- an amateur didn't clock up 616,616 points in one life, now, did they? Nor did they have the prowess to beat 100m 13 times in one sitting... Or was it 14 times? 20?_

_100? _

_It's easy to lose track of time, when you're picking up hammers and climbing ladders. Easy to get a little bored too, Mario guessed. Wait. Mario? Who's Mario? This is Jumpman, not Mario. Jumpman, the jumper. He was born and- he jumped a gap between two red platforms- programmed to jump his days away. He would never- jump- be Mario. This- jump- was his-jump- life. Whether- jump- he liked -jump- it -jump- or- jump- not. Him, Donkey- jump- Kong, fighting to the -jump- death to- jump- win- jump- Pauline's- jump- heart._

_Well, fighting- jump- till- jump- his lives ran- jump- out. When- jump? He looked- jump- up at his- jump- life count._

_Oh. -1 lives- jump. In that- jump- case, he'll just- jump- keep climbing up- jump- forever- jump. Jump._

_Jump._

_Jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump jump..._

* * *

_'Get me out of here. Let me out of this nightmare. I don't want to...'_

"Hey, Mario. Come on, Mario. You'd been perfectly 'up and at them' earlier on, get up a moment! Bro, wake up!"

Mario's moustache twitched restlessly, almost as feverishly as Luigi had ever seen his brother in the tightest of situations. _What in spaghetti could possibly fluster him so much?_

Eventually, with a fear rare for the plumber, Mario's eyes fluttered open one at a time, and glistened with ecstasy as he woke up to reality. He stared, confusedly, at his twin brother, then his past lethargy came back to him as he rested his head back on the bed.

_'I guess the real world ain't much of an improvement for him',_ sighed Luigi. At least, not until he has the news spilled to him.

"Listen, bro," Luigi began, "I know you've been holed up in here for the last few days, and yeah, we ain't got much business nowadays- but that doesn't matter, 'cause you know what?"

Mario looked through his twin brother, and -Luigi shivered- very possibly directed malediction upon his soul. He gulped.

"Um, yeah, it, er, doesn't matter, because there's always other things we can do! Remember when you used to do those runs as a doctor, some time ago? Well, I was thinking, perhaps getting back into that work, for now, could be a fun enough distraction for a bit, eh, bro? I mean, I'm sure you're great at treating injuries and looking at X-rays-"

Mario hadn't the heart to explain to Luigi that that wasn't _quite_ his speciality.

"-and who knows, maybe the bodies of the Mushroom Kingdom's people would actually make quite interesting studies. Don't you remember that mess we were in long ago, that time with Bowser and his crazy innards? Or even with Yoob and all the..." He trailed off. Thinking of how disgusting these exploits were- especially getting out of the latter- wasn't exactly getting him into the spirit of probing around in other people.

Mario, however, seemed to respond as if the prospect was a boon for him. The hair on his lip sparked up once more, now with thrill of life, not fear of death. Luigi's face relaxed itself into a content smile.

_'Finally,'_ he thought,_ 'Mario's actually got a cause he's up to, and, even better, I'm the one to help him out! I'm the hero again; hooray!'_

The expression remained under his cap for a good few moments, until he realised what ideas were spinning around inside his twin brother's chubby head. The trouble Mario was anticipating, and his rapture in tackling it head-on, almost certainly with a helpless Luigi in tow.

He shivered. _'I guess greeting babies into the world will have to wait for another day...'_

* * *

A warping whirr shoved away the silence of Toad Town's streets, as Mario leapt out of the warp pipe with a holler. Luigi followed more discretely, climbing out with trepidation to avoid a scene. He needn't have worried- as his eyes accustomed themselves to the light again, he was surprised to find that the streets were practically vacant. Not a soul was outside at all, aside from him and the shorter plumber.

The two of them reeled around where they stood, seeking out any other signs of activity going on. But there was nothing. Stalls waited, unoccupied, all down the rows of buildings. The Li'l Oink farm was bolted shut and the animals were huddled uneasily in its corner. The Post Office was shut resolutely, which was plausible enough considering how little the residents had to write about; the wooden bar firmly blocking the doorway, less so.

Luigi turned to his older companion. At this point, there should be a look of recognition in his eyes, that subtle yet fierce gaze into eternity, as he combined the ominous hints and inwardly gasped, "_Aha!_" It was a disconcerting sight, for whenever Luigi had witnessed it, it could only ever mean that a powerful ancient foe was at work, and not one inch of the Kingdom was beyond its hideous claws.

This time, though, the look didn't appear at all. It wasn't fury or fight that Luigi could find in Mario's blue eyes. Only unfamiliarity. And a dash of _fear_.

The duo were used to the Kingdom in peril, and just as much with scraping it out of times like these. But in this case, the circumstances were new- Toad Town was closed in on itself and overwhelmed with suspicion; not in a maelstrom, fleeing from Bowser's onslaught. And it was too quiet on the offensive, too, very unlike Bowser's usual tactics, where you could guarantee that several or more random buildings and Toads would be blasted to the ground.

"H-hey, bro," stammered Luigi, "actually, um, ma-maybe now's not a good time. Everyone's probably, err, sleeping- _yeah_! All sleeping, I guess; we could, y'know, just... leave things till later, eh?"

Mario's right eyebrow arched.

"I mean... Everything's quiet right now, and everything, and it's only nine o' clock_ in the morning!,_ so, yeah, for now, there ain't much we can do, everyone waking up and all..."

"On the contrary, Master Luigi," came a voice from behind them. They spun around in terror, but were relieved- _almost physically_\- when they saw it was Toadsworth, huffing as he hurried towards them.

"On the contrary," Toadsworth repeated, "not everyone's waking up, Masters Mario and Luigi. And there is much, _much_ you can do. I'm afraid some have been awake for a long, long time. And, Masters Mario and Luigi, they have been... _playing_."


	4. Child's Play

"...and that is how I came across _this_... this morning, Masters." Toadsworth coughed, and returned his gaze to the never-ending cycle before him. "What, dare I ask, do you make of this enigma, hmm?"

The bros. were still peering intently at the two 'ghost' children running- just as they had been since Toadsworth had led them there and summarised events to them. These certainly weren't the sort of unspeakable abominations they imagined had terrified everyone off the streets; aside from their old-fashioned clothing and somewhat inexplicable 'ghostliness', they looked and behaved- from what very little they were doing- just like little Toad children.

Mario put out an arm experimentally, and watched as one, then the other, scooted through it without even a passing glance. He withdrew it, and rubbed his chin with it thoughtfully.

"What," repeated Toadsworth, "do you make of it? As I've said, Master Mario, I'm quite out of my depth when it comes to dealing with the undead; the people of Toad Town, even more so. The safest thing for them, I'm afraid, was to spread the news and frighten the socks off them, get them back home and hearty. I dread to inform the Princess; this is most concerning..."

An impatient tutting came from behind the Bros. "Why, you fellers don't pay any attention at all to this old man, do you? These youngsters ain't ghosties; I should know."

Professor E. Gadd continued to prod away at his machinery as he spoke. Ghosts or not, he was immersed in this phenomena- it was unlike anything he had studied before. In honesty, he wasn't entirely hospitable earlier on when Toadsworth burst into his lab, rambling about fears and _"The horror!"_ of his morning. Didn't he see he had the mystery of where Hammer Bros. kept their hammers to solve?

Once he caught notice about mentions of ghosts, however, his curiosity was piqued- and now, though he was certain something else entirely was transpiring, it was a something he had never seen before.

"Well, what are they, then?" asked Luigi.

"That, my boy, I don't know. It's a real mystery though, yessiree, very new indeed." He resumed his modifications again, and Luigi opened his mouth to enquire further, but then the Professor fidgeted, his face tense.

"What's up?" Luigi prompted.

E. Gadd hesitated. "But... I've some sneaky suspicions, make no mistake. These young'uns"- he gestured to the two boys- "may not be your everyday spectres, but, it's possible that they could be ghosts in a sense..."

Toadsworth swung his cane, aggravated. "Oh, confound it! They are ghosts, except they aren't ghosts, but maybe they are gh- _what_ are you trying to say, sir?! Answer!"

The Professor observed his queer metallic stand, apparently oblivious to this outburst. His gaze was still directed on the portable computer he had perched on top, checking momentarily to see if the back lens was still facing towards the two boys. His eyebrows furrowed in concentration, and he muttered indistinctly under his breath.

"Well?" Toadsworth demanded.

Finally, the Professor looked up, an enquiring eye turned to Toadsworth. He chuckled lightly to himself.

"Now, there, take er' easy, now. And tell me... You may not be a ghost-catching whizz, yep, I know, but tell me... What do you think of ghosts of the past?

* * *

"What, you're_ still_ hungry?"

"That was only a mini snack; t'is but a measly two fry-ups, don't you appreciate that?"

Chef Spore was exasperated- never before, had he served such a ravenous customer.

"Two fry-ups, sir? You mean the _two full breakfasts,_ don't you?"

The tubby Toad leaned his mass painfully towards Chef Spore. "I wouldn't believe the labels they give, trust me. Full? My dog would be unlucky to scrape together less than that for a dessert!"

Chef Spore reminded himself mentally to have a word with the RSPCA later on.

"As you insist... what would you like to order?"

"A cake, my good sir," said the large Toad, licking his lips in glee.

Chef Spore's hand hovered over his pad. "Erm, I'm sorry, I think I misheard slightly. You said you're having..?"

"A cake. Chocolate mousse, of the richest cocoa."

Chef Spore stared at his customer. "A cake. For breakfast, you want _a cake?_"

"What!? Oh, good heavens, no. We haven't gotten near breakfast yet; why, do you wish me to starve?"

The restaurant fell into an awkward silence, no other people there for breakfast today. The chef turned his head back to his kitchen, and forced a smile at the glutton.

"A cake, of course. As you want," he said with a bow, and moved to get back into his kitchen.

"Oh, and I do hope you've enough about for my breakfast too?" the gourmand called out. "You know the madness going on out there, all this malarkey about 'ghosts' mayn't ease off for quite a time, until which, my stomach must be contented here."

_'I'm surprised you're not a ghost yourself at this rate,'_ thought Chef Spore. Nonetheless, motivated by the knowledge that today's pay would be a great deal more than usual, he darted out of the dining room and got to work.

Many minutes later, Chef Spore waddled out of the kitchen, a large brown cake plopped on his silver tray. He saw the gourmand sitting as he had left him, echoing his other customers by rubbing his belly. Except as he was hungry, rather than full.

'_Well,'_ Chef Spore thought, '_that won't last long._' He looked at the gargantuan patty he held, and smiled. Now _that_, was a cake.

Slowly, carefully, he brought it over to the trencherman's table, and felt his muscles lose a great burden as he placed it before him. The Toad's eyes lifted open as he sniffed cautiously. The chef stood eagerly by him, as he lifted out a grubby hand and yanked away a big chunk. The Toad munched thoughtfully for what seemed like ages. Then, his eyes widened in exultant pleasure.

"Oh, yes,_ yes,_ this is magnificent! Most delectable!" he cried.

"I aim to please," replied Chef Spore. Satisfied that the gourmand was happy, he turned to get to his till.

"Oh, and, I presume the other components will be around shortly?" the gourmand asked. "I understand entirely that one cannot bring a whole cake onto one mere table, hmm?"

At this point, Chef Spore was tempted to replace the chocolate with something equally as brown, not at all sweet. But before he could say anything, he heard a gasp of horror behind him. He turned, partly expecting the gourmand to- quite reasonably- be suffocating under his own bulk, partly that his fussy tastes had rejected the cake.

Instead, he saw what was once his cake decaying rapidly into a blue-moulded abomination. It crumbled apart before his eyes, the colours losing their intensity while the strong scent of cocoa turned into a rancid stench. It positively reeked of death, yet the ingredients were freshly taken only yesterday. Both of the restaurant's occupants clenched their nostrils in disgust and grimaced.

"My word!" roared the gourmand. "You _are_ trying to kill me!"

"What? Of course not!... _yet_. I swear, this isn't my fault. I mean, you saw how it was when I brought it..." He trailed off as he realised the cake was changing again; this time, returning to its past freshness. He couldn't explain it, yet right then, the cake was actually raising itself up to the way it was before. The toxic aroma vanished almost instantaneously, cocoa pervading the air once again, and the cake's skin regained its luxurious brown.

The gourmand was the first to regain his composure. "Ah," he bellowed, "I've seen some unique selling points in my day, but it rather seems your cake takes the biscuit. Speaking of biscuits, have you any?"

"Err- sir, um, I'm afraid this isn't-"

"Oh? Now what?"

The food wasn't settling yet. It was still rewinding itself- rewinding itself to before it was even made. As they watched, layer by layer disappeared from the cake, top to bottom, each breaking down into the ingredients that made it up. Within seconds, the once- tall treat was now just a pile of eggs, cocoa powder, flour and other items lying on a tray drenched with milk.

Neither of them spoke for minutes. Eventually, the gourmand broke the silence.

"Oh my... Absurd... This sort of mayhem, it really put's one off one's appetite, doesn't it?"

Chef Spore nodded enthusiastically. "I'd say."

The two looked uncomprehendingly at the mess before them, trying to make sense of it themselves.

"Then again," enunciated the gourmand, "perhaps if one still has the rest of the cake waiting, then one could find the room for some more. And even another fry-up, if one is possible..."

Chef Spore's mouth flapped open and closed like a Cheep Cheep for a long moment. Then, with great indignation, he grabbed his chef's hat and smacked it against the marble floor. "No, I'm afraid that won't be possible today, and quite frankly, _never again!_ I quit! This is insane! I give up!" And with that, he stormed back into his room and slammed the door on his way.

The gourmand stared, wide-eyed, at this abrupt tantrum. He looked back to his messy table, and sighed to himself.

"Such a shame. Clearly, not everyone can cater for a mortal. Couldn't even manage a simple snack for a light stomach..."

And so the gourmand muttered away to himself, dreadfully concerned about how he could last up to his next meal. But his worries were ill-placed. Something was going on in the Mushroom Kingdom that had never occurred before. Something that concerned all within it.

The time disruption was spreading. _And time was running out._


	5. Breaking Point

"Ghosts of the past, you say? Visions of history coming to return, I believe?"

Professor E. Gadd practically leapt into Toadsworth's face. The old Toad was unnerved by the manic gleam behind his glasses.

"Ohohoho! More than that, feller, much more than that! This isn't just a vision of the past- if I'm correct, which I'm 99.9999999% certain I am, then this-" he threw his arms out towards the kids- "-_is_ the past!"

Nobody looked none the wiser, so he continued, "Though these two can't see us, and we can't interact with them, in their little wound of time, they exist both now and in the past! Only this moment they're in has slightly broken through, but I'll bet dollars to donuts that soon enough, they will be fully transitioned from then to now."

Luigi raised a timid hand. "Um... can I ask something?" E. Gadd nodded. "You, um, said they're in a 'wound of time'- I thought me and Mario dealt with that all long ago, y'know, when the ol' Mushroom Kingdom got invaded, and all..."

E. Gadd shook his head. "Those were time holes, my boy; evidently quite different. Those came about with the Cobalt Star shards reacting, and brought you from present to past, and the same again. No, no, these wounds were made by something- or someone- else, and I'm afraid they're only a one-way transport, far as I can tell."

Toadsworth looked worryingly at the carefree children. They wouldn't be so carefree soon enough.

"Then what, precisely, must we do?" Toadsworth asked. "Return them to their own world, yes, but how?"

"It isn't quite that simple, feller. I'm sure I could get another time machine rigged up in a jiffy and get them tip-top, posthaste, but that ain't the real problem. We've got the other wounds to deal with too, yep."

Luigi gaped. "Other?"

E. Gadd returned the expression. "Why, Luigi, you didn't think random wounds pop into the spacetime continuum alone, did you?"

"Err, I don't think I know at all about wounds popping into the spa-"

"Not at all! They spread from a single devastating attack, my boy!" With that, he took out a pickaxe.

Neither the Bros. nor Toadsworth thought to question why he had a pickaxe, nor how it fitted into his white laboratorial coat. Petrifaction tended to do that to you.

"You see, Luigi," he said, walking casually towards one of the courtyard's more tired sculptures of Princess Peach, "the damage that started everything was like, this!" He stabbed the pickaxe into the statue with a loud clink that made the others jump back. A small but perceptible crack formed on the base.

"See? That's just the initial assault on its own, but it's enough to splinter every thing and every time around it, just like this!" He swung again, even more rapidly, even more ferociously, and now cracks were spreading up the sculpture's body, up to Peach's chest.

"And in we all fall, all tumbling through these gaps as they develop, and they're mild at first, but still noticeable, becoming more prominent, and time becoming less, and seconds and minutes and hours and days and weeks and months and years and centuries and millenniums fade away until-"

The statue finally broke into countless pieces, descending to the grass below as a cloud of dust floated into the air.

"-there's no hole, and there's no time." E. Gadd. wiped his forehead and dropped his pickaxe as he turned to his audience. "And, that about sums it up, yep. So, do you fellers understand?"

The trio's mouths opened and shut, but no sound came out."

"Mmm, perhaps not. Maybe another demonstration may help-"

All three burst into motion.

"No, no, that's quite alright!-"

"-we get the picture, professor!-"

"-a most engaging demonstration, indeed!-"

"-just walk away from that other statue, now, that's alright!-"

"-just put the pickaxe down, calm yourself!"

E. Gadd smiled. "Ah, good. I must say, your reply is really generous of you! Boy, my students at my old university weren't so kind, you know. Thought I was too quiet, they'd say! Anyhoo, that's beyond the point. Right now, boys, we've to find the spatial origins of this threat, and put some tape to it!"

He raised his arm out in an epic gesture, and despite their fear, it was contagious enough for the other three to mirror it and let out their own feverish cries.

"Oh," the Professor interrupted, "but first, best get someone to clear away all this stone fallen about, huh? I swear, the disrepair you guys allow them to fall into..."

* * *

**Yep, it's a short chapter this time, but to be honest, I wanted to get the exposition out of the way for a bit, and the action actually... acting, I guess. **


	6. A Plan for Disaster

_"Oh, but first, best get someone to clear away all this stone fallen about, huh? I swear, the disrepair you guys allow them to fall into..."_

Watching far beyond the Mushroom Kingdom, a tall figure dwelt upon this rebellion in the making. He liked dealing with rebellions._ Ever so good at annihilating them whole._ He had good practise of this almost daily- him, a small but functional chamber, and a comfy revolving chair.

Oh, and the most destructive machine in the entirety of the known worlds. Which, he considered, may have to be put into use again. His scheme may well depend on it.

Looking at his screen again, he thought coldly, logically, about how best to eliminate this threat. Squish them under a huge Thwomp? No. Too immediate. Swarm them with Bob-ombs? Probably would catch his own people's attention; such an unnatural occurrence would be far too obvious. No. He needed something plausible, something that suggested an avoidable, unfortunate demise.

And importantly, something that could finish them off. He ruminated over this. Then, bringing himself to his vast metallic contraption, he touched his rigid head against it and translated his thoughts into matter. And the matter was given purpose- to destroy.

* * *

"So, uh, where do we start?" asked Luigi. "The weak point, yeah? How do we know where that is?"

"Simple, my boy! That'd be the spot where time is weakest, don't you know!"

A tumbleweed blew by. The group were locked in place.

"...in other words... you've no clue, have you?" E. Gadd remained as he was. "That ain't very scientific, is it? Just, wandering around to find what we're looking for... Eh, Mario...?"

Mario wasn't listening. He was staring instead towards Toad Town, away in the distance. But he wasn't looking at it.

_There was something else._

They could all sense it, though nothing could be seen. But then, a definite form came about, all at once. Out of thin air. It was unlike any other being they had ever seen, even with their considerable experience. 5 feet wide, twice as much tall, with harsh purple skin draped over a mighty humanoid bulk. You could call it a beast, but in comparison, all the other creatures in the Kingdom were as beautiful as Peach- a great big stinking 'The Beast' was the only title that did it justice. Certain features were recognisably humanoid- two arms, two legs, a head- but that's where the similarities ended. The rest was like an amalgamation of features, with vast wings, long spiky tentacles, and unrelentingly hot warts placed inexplicably across the flesh, even where facial features would have been.

It somehow didn't need them though, for it could detect Mario easily enough. And throw a devastating hand right towards him too. Mario shrieked, surprised, and leapt deftly over it, barely scraping himself against a spike. Before he could land, though, the other arm followed up, and the plumber felt the full force of the blow. He rocketed backwards and collided with another statue of Peach with a painful thud. As he smacked on a ? block below, the statue followed, pieces surrounding the dazed hero.

Luigi wanted to scream. He wanted to flee, or just drag his brother away from this Beast. But he knew what he must do.

"Toadsworth, Professor, get out of here! Run for it!" he screamed. "Shut the doors too! Just keep the Princess and everyone in the castle, safe!"

The two old men hesitated for a moment, but eventually, their duty of protecting the Princess won out.

"Very well, Master Luigi," Toadsworth bowed, "you are the master. But do care for yourselves!"

Luigi nodded, and returned his focus on the Beast that was still targeting Mario. Despite its bulk, it was striding towards him at an amazing pace that would even intimidate an Amazy Dayzee. It certainly intimidated him. But his twin brother's life was at stake.

Luigi sprung up and bounced carefully on the Beast's softer parts, propelling himself upwards on its wings. It ignored him entirely, until he managed a fair height above it and ground-pounded the head. A massive convulsion threw Luigi off into a bush below. He peeked out, but all he saw was that his attack had only barely hurt it. And very much angered it, which he realised with a cry as a fist pounded into the grass just inches from his nose. He bounded backwards, and kept doing so as a barrage of swipes began. Each one so nearly hit the mark, and soon one would.

Eventually, the taller plumber tripped over on a block behind him, falling on his back. He was vulnerable. And soon dead.

But, as he opened his eyes, he realised that the Beast was actually dithering between him and something behind itself. There was some noise too, like ice colliding with fire...

Then he saw it- through the beast's legs, there was Mario, now in his light blue and red overalls. The block he landed on must have been an Ice Flower block! As the Beast screeched with every shot Mario threw, Luigi brought his attention to the one he tripped on. Blocks close together normally held the same things, didn't they? Then, this was his chance! Preparing himself, Luigi kicked the box at its side, and leapt triumphantly to grab just what he needed-

-a coin. Oh. 'Well,' thought Luigi, 'that's something, I guess.' Rather than collect it, he yielded it in his right hand. The Beast was still distracted by the bursts of ice. Swinging his arm backwards, Luigi threw the coin directly at its head like a Frisbee, hitting with a mild twang. The Beast turned around, confused, crushing the coin under its foot.

"Mamma mia!"

Wild tentacles shot out at him, tightly wrapping him in a suffocating embrace. Mario stopped his assault, realising his partner's despair. A choked cry that sounded like "Mario!" escaped through the writhing tentacles. But Luigi wouldn't, not if he didn't do something.

Mario paced back two steps, then sped towards Luigi's captor. It was disregarding the green plumber ebbing away in its grasp, now returning its focus on Mario. But while it was doing so, Mario leapt quickly onto a haphazard wing, moving on and up until he was high enough to backflip over the Beast. Avoiding another flurry of tentacles reaching for him, he aimed at those that imprisoned his taller partner and flung several ice balls right at them. They fragmented right between each link, each eliciting a painful cry from the Beast. In such pain, it loosened its grip on Luigi. He fell, surprised, crashing awkwardly on the grass below.

Mario descended beside him. Luigi stumbled getting up, and turned his head to him. Both glanced each other, and smiled. Thumbs up. And a giant purple fist down between them wiped the smile off their faces. The fight wasn't over yet. Not by a long shot.

* * *

"Now, now, everyone," Toadsworth bellowed, "there's no cause for mayhem, I assure you! Masters Mario and Luigi are sorting out this latest rapscallion even as I speak. Why, I'm positive that before we know it, they shall have given that rogue a beating or two! We need just remain inside, and-"

"Rapscallion? Rogue?" yelled a green Toad from the crowd that had gathered to hear Toadsworth. "That thing out there's a _demon_!"

"Horrifying!" called another.

"I hope those Mario Bros. are okay..."

"Look at it! They've as good as corked it."

"I miss Bowser now..."

"It looks kinda cute actually-"

"SILENCE!" Toadsworth shouted. Everyone obliged. Toadsworth cleared his throat. "Ahem... As I was saying, the Masters are dealing with things even as we speak. Now, I recognise that their latest combatant is rather more... _hefty_, than most. Heedless, they have faced tougher terrors in their considerable lifetimes, and doubtless this one shall pose no more trouble than most."

Perched on an open arch in the front entrance, facing the battle outside, a 3DS Health Points Totality Predictor was resting on its smooth metallic surface. E. Gadd's latest invention, its functions ranged from expanding the dimensions of objects, logging the names of people passed in the street, and-as E. Gadd needed in this case- analysing the impact of damage accumulated and the physiological structure of the Beast, to determine its health and weaknesses.

It also provoked dizziness, nausea and headaches with prolonged use. But that was another story.

It was giving the Professor a headache of different sort right now, though. The readings it was producing just didn't make sense. 'Impossible', was the word. And despite how many adjustments he made, how much he slapped the contraption to make it behave, it remained stubborn.

"So how long are we gonna be cooped up in here?" an orange Toad asked Toadsworth.

Toadsworth sighed. "I repeat, until the Masters have bested it." He struck his cane angrily on the marble floor. "I beg of you, _what else can I tell you!?_ I'm not psychic!"

"Erm... Toadsworth, a word, if you'd please..."

Toadsworth felt E. Gadd tugging anxiously on his brown overcoat. The look on his face suggested it wasn't a pleasant word.

"Oh, yes, of course. Meanwhile," Toadsworth said, raising his voice for the fifty Toads around him, "I would recommend you return to your businesses, best as you can, keeping your distance from any opening to outside. Now, as you were."

E. Gadd practically dragged him away as the crowd poured out of the room. "Well?" Toadsworth demanded. "What has your gizmo told you?"

The Professor's face was strained, more than Toadsworth had ever seen it. "I'm rather afraid yon Beast won't be 'bested', as you say, anytime soon. Quite frankly, I'm 'fraid it can't be bested at all."

"I do not get you," Toadsworth replied; even though he fearfully did.

"The Beast," declared the Professor, "is immortal. We've nothing we can do- the Castle's as good as done."


	7. Played by a Beast

The fight still raged in the Castle's gardens, though you wouldn't think them to be gardens any more. 'War zones' seemed more appropriate, especially with how unrelentingly ferocious the combat was.

Another huge hole was beaten into existence before the Castle, Luigi somersaulting dangerously close to the purple fist responsible. Mid-air and safe- except for the foul creature's frenzied wings. They flapped at him at an insane pace, a rapid blur blowing him and his screams away even more rapidly. He crashed into one of the few trees still standing, and in a second and a crack, it stood no more, and neither did Luigi as he, too, crashed to the dust below.

The Beast sped to his vulnerable prey, wings now propelling it forwards. It prepared another onslaught of tentacles; the finishing blows. Quickly, though, the green plumber got up and stepped onto the fallen log. The purple extensions reached for him. He jumped.

Instead of stabbing into flesh, the appendages broke into the wood and became lodged within it. Even withdrawing them, the Beast found it was still stuck within the log- and now it was the vulnerable one.

Luigi landed neatly right next to Mario, and both winked at each other. Reaching into their vacuous pockets, they pulled out their trusty hammers- this had to be fast. The duo tensed, leapt at the log together and hammered it with all their tiring might. It blasted back at the Beast- a direct hit to the head. It thundered with fury, splinters flying everywhere or embedding themselves in its dark flesh. Were it mortal, the agony it would be enduring would be enough to put a stop to its aggression at once.

It retaliated almost immediately. Twirling around like a tornado, accelerating with every beat of its wings, the beast spun towards them. Too sudden to react, the force of it hit them pointblank, and sent them again far across the courtyard.

While Mario crashed and broke his way through a row of once-neat hedges, the taller Bros skidded off the grass towards the Castle. An explosion of grass followed in its wake, all the way up to a few metres from the Castle's side where Luigi's flight came to a stop. He groaned to himself, rubbing his aching head, somewhat surprised it hadn't snapped off at this point. _'This isn't what I was thinking of when I wanted to go to the doctors this morning,'_ he thought._ 'I meant to do the treatments; not be the one needing treatment!'_

"Luigi... Luigi, my boy..."

_'Oh, great. Now I'm imagining voices too! I'm a-gonna be needing a therapist too...'_

The Professor gave up, and flung an apple out the window. It smacked into Luigi's nose which swelled and reddened, looking more like an apple than the fruit itself.

"Ouch!" Luigi yelled. "And one doing anger management too!"

"Beg your pardon?" the Professor called, then shook his head. "Ah, never you mind, E. Gadd. Here, Luigi- are you listening close now?"

"Err, I can't hear you over how bright my nose is, thanks-"

"Oh, do calm yerself, young feller." E. Gadd frowned to himself. "Except, erm, don't. It ain't cheery news, I'm 'fraid. It's..."

Toadsworth popped his head out of the window. "Oh, Master Luigi, you and Master Mario must evade this foe, I insist; all your pep is in vain!"

"Hah? What do you mean?" Luigi demanded, leaning weakly towards them.

"My 3DS Health Points Totality Predictor reckons that what you fellers are up against has no game over!" exclaimed the Professor. "Reading the data stripped from your big ol' brawl, my device is refusing to number that beastie's vitality. The thing can't even suggest any possible death animation-"

"Ahem," Toadsworth coughed, "what, dare I ask, do you mean by 'death animation'?"

"Why, um, that'd be what you'd call... your likely final animation- movement- before you run out of lives, of course. And if it ain't got one, then no amount of Spinys in its... _vulnerables_... will do you any good." The Professor straightened his glasses, and for the first time Luigi could see just how hopeless his eyes were behind them. "You fellers got to go. Get that Beast off your tracks, don't you mind if it hassles us instead. You've time to save, and you haven't got much..."

Luigi listened patiently to all this, and once E. Gadd's eyebrows drooped in his final resignation, Toadworth scratching absentmindedly at his cane, he raised himself to his full height and turned back to the battlefield. The Beast was still searching for Mario, but not for much longer.

"No."

Toadsworth and the Professor gaped. _"What..?"_

"That's not what us Bros do. If Mario heard ya, he'd say no too. I know." Luigi tilted his head back at them. "You guys escape if you can, but we're sticking around. That's what makes us Bros- we don't give in and say impossible. Even if he ain't there, I'd still not do it, cos neither would he. What else would I do, stay home and hide? Man, that'd be worse than facing King Boo! Fighting's better than nothing, so here's something!"

"Master Luigi!" Toadsworth wheezed. "No it is not; your 'something' is suicide! Just_ get away!_"

But Luigi was already staggering back to the gargantuan, and quite likely, his end.

The Beast was still prowling around in its unusual way: striding forward and looking from side to side, only to face forwards again and continue this regime. Luigi couldn't explain it, but somehow, he was beginning to think there was more to the creature than met the Mr. I. There was something unnatural in its movement, some peculiar logic underneath its actions. Rather mechanical.

_Almost as if it were programmed._

The green plumber tiptoed gently behind it as it searched, completely oblivious to his presence. _'A plan would be good at this point,'_ Luigi ruminated, _'good for helping me not die...'_

Hands burst out of the bush beside him and jerked him into it from the feet onwards. He had no plan.

"Mario!" he hollered. "Help-a me! _Marioooooooo-_"

But then his mouth was covered, and his body was restrained, and unable to resist, he was turned around to meet his dreadful fate of-

It was Mario! The short plumber lifted a finger to his lips sternly, but a shine blossomed in his eyes to see that his partner wasn't down and out.

That could change in the next few seconds, though, they realised. The Beast backtracked to the source of the screams, scanning the area more closely than before. The Bros peered out carefully. From what they could see, it was now suspicious of the bushes. Tentacles were poking into the one opposite them, writhing around to catch out anyone within. Satisfied that it was empty of prey, the extensions receded. Now they pierced into their hiding place. Without a second to spare, the Bros anticipated and twisted around the tentacles as they pushed through. Mario was stuck in something like a one-legged, bendy chair pose, whereas Luigi had to avoid by curving his body into the shape of a snake. Neither dared to breathe. The appendages wriggled around in the bush for what seemed like aeons. Mario thought he couldn't possibly tighten his body any further- he regretted all those Fried Shroom Plates now- and, for a moment, it looked like one tentacle would venture close enough to feel his dungarees. But, before the two plumbers could suffocate themselves on the air they held back, the tentacles withdrew and the Beast could be heard stepping away. They had eluded it. The Bros grinned.

And Mario belched. Everything happened in a blur: the Beast blew their cover far across the courtyard with its wings, the Bros along with it. Luigi pushed Mario out of the way of a brick block he was about to collide with, while Mario multitasked between eluding and blocking the rush of fireballs from the Beast's warts with his iceballs and vowing never to boredom-eat again.

"Mario!"

The shorter plumber glanced behind him to where Luigi was looking. At this speed, they were going to splash straight into the Castle's lake- and at the pace the Beast was going at, before they could get out onto dry land, it would have reached the edge and bombarded them while they slowly swam in the lake. Both knew they wouldn't be swimming for long.

Mario narrowed his eyes at the lake, trying to guess where precisely the two of them would splash into it. They should hit the water just about... _there_. At least, he hoped so. This wasn't something to be wrong about. With only seconds to go, he held back his hands and called upon the Ice Flower's powers. Two iceballs only, could he muster; and large as they were, they seemed not enough.

Yet, it worked! Mere metres from the lake, the Mario Bros watched as both projectiles touched upon the water surface, both producing their own icy platform. The two plumbers landed feet-first on one each, though Luigi's more troublesome traction meant that a few seconds were spent skidding around and risking a tumble into the water. Thankfully he recovered quite quickly, and without time to spare too- the Beast had arrived.

For a long, dreadful moment, Mario and Luigi froze; more rigid and still than the ice under their feet. Neither moved- any move at all could be their last. The Beast's ability to discharge flames at them was tired- as the plumbers could guess from the dull, shrunken lumps on its skin in place of the once-bright, bigger warts- but there was nothing to stop it or its tentacles from simply wading in and smashing their support into pieces, or them either. Supposedly.

But as the seconds passed, and the Beast remained impassive, confusion and impatience overtook their fear. _What was it waiting for?_ For its flames to recharge and blast again at the duo? For the ice to melt so the plumbers would be flailing around and easy pickings?

No, both decided internally. This was an animal of impatience and pragmatism; not something that would wait to relish the reaping of a long game. It should have broke through the water without a second thought, should now be wading in plumber soup. So _what is it with the water?_

The two were so vexed, they almost didn't notice the Beast's wings gathering momentum and their clothes beginning to ripple. When they did, though, it was far too late. Their feet were lifting off their platforms, and with shock, they saw that so were their platforms off the water. It was too gentle a breeze, certainly, to bring them right across to the other side of the lake. But far too strong to not get them into the water, where neither could stand their ground at all, in more ways than one.

Mario, quick-thinking, heaved his body weight towards the upturned side of his platform and sank it back down again, bit by bit. The other moustached fighter, knowing he was less generous with his meal servings, rode his platform out with its flips and shakes. He gasped and flinched his way past jagged rocks that chipped away the floor beneath his feet, all the while reassuring himself he was just surfboarding. _Plain, relaxing surfboarding._ Aside from it being a fragile, shrinking ice-board instead, and an uncontrollable one at that, in not exactly the most plain or relaxing of circumstances, more life-threatening if anything, and didn't he burst into tears when he rode one in his youth?, and Mario was getting further away-

-and behind him a horde of sharp rocks was getting even closer. Desperation pushed him the extra mile, and he jumped behind his platform with gloves pressed against its end. Damp feet paddled violently against the forces, even against his fatigue, pushing to save it and himself from destruction.

The ice Mario held onto was still standing- albeit at an odd angle, and still slowly following the journey the Beast was sending it upon. One hand gripped the ice, the other conjuring iceballs to cease the purple monster's wings. Mario was more puffed out than he could ever recall by now; still, he allowed himself a tiny smile as he held on. This wasn't over. The two of them, the Mario Bros, weren't down and out yet._ 'Isn't that-a right, Lui-'_

He turned around and gasped. Luigi was now like a dot in the background, before a group of hazardous rocks that could be seen even from where Mario was. _So much for not being down and out..._ Mario sighed, almost a fond sigh, briefly forgetting his own predicament. There was no other choice- he had to get his bro out of this mess himself. He pulled himself up slowly, difficult on the slippery ice, and leapt as it flipped with his movement. His feet plonked onto the iceboard, a little crack beginning to show in its centre. He considered creating another platform; but with the gust of wind blowing everything back, another sheet of ice could easily crash against the other and contribute to its destruction. This one would have to do.

"Luigi!" The green clothed- and sickly green-skinned- plumber opened his eyes and forgot his pain for a moment, as Mario was waving at him- or was he just balancing his platform?- while riding towards him. He rode it with far more grace than could be expected of such a portly plumber, but Luigi was too grateful to care. Mario was nearing him at a tremendous rate, so Luigi raised out an arm in expectation while swimming against the currents. For a moment, he could feel his right shoe tap against something rough and hard, and hadn't the heart to look back at how close he was to being squished between the ice and the rocks. His eyes closed once, expecting the worse- and opened wide with joy as he felt Mario's hand grab his own and lift him up onto the iceboard he rode.

Luigi kept his lunch down as he stabilised himself. "Thanks, bro!" he said, his voice loud to overcome the noisy currents. Mario only glanced once at him, but of course he was preoccupied with navigating their iceboard. "Sorry I got ya into this... and sorry for not calling out for you. I just didn't want to trouble you, or anything..."

The older plumber stared once again at Luigi, and this time, Luigi could only see pride and understanding in his eyes. He'd probably have hypothermia after all this, but for now, his heart was hotter than ever with unbridled happiness.

The two resumed focus on their path, and panic dismissed the positivity. Coming up, a row of jagged rocks too wide to manoeuvre around, even with the two of them driving.

"We gotta jump it!" cried Luigi. Mario nodded. It was a bad idea, and quite likely they would land painfully astride the rocks. It was also their only idea, though, so bracing themselves, the two jumped off their platform as it shattered into the rocks. Each could almost feel the failure that could come, the agony their crotch would feel if they weren't high enough... and then great relief as they saw their feet pass centimetres over the rocks. They made it!

Mario brought his arms back again, preparing himself to create another pair of platforms. His eyes were riveted to an open spot, his clothes emanated with cold energy as two iceballs gathered in his hands-

-but then, out of nowhere, appeared a group of frog-suited Toads swimming in the lake. Their faces were plastered with grins and mild exertion, like there wasn't a murderous abomination waiting for them or anything. It was like they were living in another time.

So surprised were the Mario Bros, the iceballs broke apart in Mario's hands. Neither of them could feel the sensation of their bodies under strain as they sank into the lake, nor the cold rush of water as it poured into their mouths.

Although, there was one odd feeling; and it was of leaving the world around them...

* * *

"Right, steady now, people!" Toadsworth bellowed to the crowd that had reformed before him. Nobody had seen head nor pimple of the Beast for a good few minutes now, and the Mario Bros hadn't approached the Castle since E. Gadd last spoke to Luigi. The Professor's 'DSi Spy'- another invention brought about by sleepless nights and a curious phase involving Birdo- was busy detecting the life signs of the plumbers by matching them with the material found in their own strands of hair. So far, the signals were weakening, which meant that they, and thus the Beast, were getting distant from the Castle entrance, and at least were still alive. If there was a time to escape, it was now.

"Are we all accounted for?" Toadsworth whispered to the young registrar beside him.

"Yes, sir, all present and ready." He tightened his tie as he added, "The Princess, however, insists on all going as she remains in her throne room"-Toadsworth gaped- "so as to spare us that creature's wrath. Presuming it will go for her after the Mario Bros, of course."

Toadsworth coughed and cried in making an argument, but gave in recalling how stubborn the Princess could be. "Quite right," he murmured, "quite right. Now listen in, people," Toadsworth called to the crowd, "we are now to leave in an orderly single file; is that clear? Alphabetical order, as possible, starting with young Ace"- everyone glared at Ace- " but ending with my own self. Is this all und-"

A whirring sound cut him off. Toadsworth looked around confusedly, and his eyes settled on E. Gadd's DSi Spy. So did the Professor's eyes, which were riveted on its screens, and- was that a tear falling behind his glasses?

Toadsworth wandered over to him. "Why, what does that sound mean, sir?... Professor, speak to me."

E. Gadd didn't turn his face from the device. "That sound... That is the DSi Spy powering down."

"Oh? I see."

"No, feller, I don't think you do. I didn't turn it off, and the battery's good as full. It turned off because it's nothing to do."

"But... This gadget of yours, you had turned it on to detect Masters Mario and Luigi, unless I am mistaken? Why-"

Now E. Gadd did look up. "To detect their life signs, yes. And it can't do that anymore. I'm sorry, Toadsworth. I'm sorry, everyone. But the Mario Bros have met their 'Game Over'."

Something slammed powerfully against the wooden door. The Beast had moved on-_ it was their turn next._

* * *

**Sorry if this chapter has taken longer than others getting published- there's something about mid-somethings that my mind's allergic to, more than pre- and post- events. Hello, 'writer's block'... Anyway, this chapter may be slightly bigger than those before it, which is the intention. I feel like I'm offloading chapters that are all exposition, no action, so with more content I could actually include a reasonable dose of both.**

**MLE1894- thank you very much for your kind review! Means a lot at this stage, especially since my style looks sorta different to other fanfic writers. Good or bad different, wasn't entirely sure- I'll take your word for the former! The lack of attention, I guess, is probably because of this, I can see how it could put someone off.**


	8. Conflict

_...bright. So, so bright... Luigi didn't get where he was, but he recognised it like his treasured cap. It all made sense now... This is the end. World -1... and so bright. Only bright. Only... but, there is a voice..?_

_"Luigi..."_

_So light... yet so heavy with passion. He could tell, from so very little which was so enough, he wanted to be here- whatever here is- with his special one. Eternity in daisies, royal and orange- Royal and Orange. And there she was. The dress billowing out, the love even more. For him. It was embracing him, the slender arms were embracing him, her lips embracing his..._

_...so soft, with the touch of flowers, rich wine, and-_

_...slimy spores? Everything left him, and replacing the comfort..._

"Is it working?" asked the Toad. "Should I do it again?"

"Well, a kiss of life extra can't do any harm, 'Frog Master'," offered an older one behind him.

"Great- I mean, er, as you say!" He stared into Luigi's eyes, pushing the loose curls of blonde hair out of his own hazel pools. He kissed.

Luigi flung himself up and spluttered like a Cataquack, Toad-spit bursting out of his mouth in a raging fountain._ 'Kiss of life? More like a Poison Shroom than a 1-Up!'_

"Ah! Steady on there, man, you're alright now. No need to panic..."

"Luigi!" cried a familiar Italian voice. He straightened up, recognising his bro with great delight. There was Mario just before him; a swarm of Toads by his side and the lake behind them. The Toads were all adorned in green Frog Suits-

_He remembered!_ They were all immersed in the water, and on the- _this_ lakeshore!, that purple abomination was prowling around and-

"Luigi!" His bro burst into his track of thought, shaking his head reassuringly. In his eyes, though, the green plumber could see a hint of confusion, confusion with thankfulness... _what happened?_

"Luigi, is it?" queried the young Toad that had been intimate with his lips. He had decided to keep his distance, though his arms swung awkwardly as if eager to touch. "Pleased to meet you, my sir!"

_"I'm sure you are..."_ muttered Luigi. He ran through a few questions in his mind: some reasonable, some not so reasonable. Learning his mood, however, the same Toad spoke again.

"Oh, so sorry! I've not introduced myself and my friends. I'm 'Frog Leader' Wilder Smush, but you can call me 'Wild'"

-_ 'I'm sure you are,'_ thought Luigi-

" and these guys back here, the 'Super Swimmer Buddies'!"

"... swimming..?"

Wilder laughed. "Yep, we were until along came you 'Super Drowner Bros.'! Got ya both back straight away, we did. Good thing too; you looked ready to cork it." His eyebrow curved suggestively. "You two weren't having _too much fun_, now, were ya?"

Luigi flushed. "What? N-no, of course we weren't having fun! No fun at all! ... Well, it was _kinda_ exciting, breathtaking and all like I have never-"

"Hmm?" grinned Wilder. "First time, is it?"

"Wha- I, er guess it is sorta and"- he slapped himself sane- "_n-never mind!_ That doesn't matter! I mean, what about that monster and everything? And where'd you all come from?!"

Wilder and the other Toads behind him frowned. "'Monster?' What monster?" His eyebrows raised suddenly in fear. "Ya don't mean King Gnash, do ya? _He's here?!_"

The name tugged at Luigi's memory for some reason. It was only a vague recollection... but somehow, especially seeing how frightened the Toads were at hearing the name, he knew this 'Lord Gnash' wasn't a pushover. "Er, no. I mean that purple freak with the tentacles and teenage acne. Y'know, the one threatening the Castle?"

"Tentacles?" The young Toad resumed his bantering. "'Kinda exciting' indeed! But, with regret, I must correct you there- the Castle's the same as ever! Just look behind ya!"

Wilder spun him round, and, for a moment, Luigi's eyes wandered, uncomprehendingly. He searched what he was seeing, not understanding why he wasn't noticing the Castle. Then he realised. Where the Castle had just been, now there was a smaller, yet undeniably big building. Vast front-door, fenced-off moat, and the stone walkway over it, all present and accounted for. Even the same feelings of awe and reverence were sparked, to see just how mighty a Kingdom it was that he and its residents could live in and dream of the utopia to come, lounging in the utopia that already was.

Still, though, he could tell that this wasn't his home, nor Mario's. This wasn't the Castle they knew- the walls were a fetid black, variating in tone from left to right, up to down, like some chump did a lousy rush-job. There was no stained glass window of Peach... no windows at all. The roof, too, was different, with strong grey walls along its edges like some sort of barrier. Looking closer at the stone walkway now, he saw that it was actually narrower than he was used to, and with a slight slope to it too. Something round could easily slip off into the water below...

"See?" Wilder smiled. "Business as usual. Ugly, I know, but that's war for ya."

The Mario Bros. shared a concerned glance. _War..?_

"Oh, and to answer your second question... well, actually, I can't." It was Wilder's turn to look baffled. "We didn't appear from anywhere- you two did. Out of the blue, into the... blue. Bad metaphor. Sorry. Anyhow, this is what we'd like to know- where did _you two_ come from?"

* * *

_'There are tales, of one time. Many, many opposing accounts of an alien time. Not the time of aliens- that comes much, much later. This is a tale of an inconstant realm; and this nature is all of that time that we can ever truly agree about._

_Why? Because inconstant times utter inconstant words, for mortal's inconstant grasp with their inconstant temperament._

_Here is my own. In this time, change overwhelmed its people. And this was not even the entirety of it, though they did not, could not know of it. Instead, they dwelt upon more immediate issue._

_ Namely, that of war._

_Yes; the smallest Shy Guy to the mightiest Magikoopa spoke in hushed tones about the war that raged. You must remember that in this era, we- ahem- they, had no divisions as they have now. 'Koopa' and 'Toad' were titles without meaning, as neither Koopa nor Toad raised fist to each other in pursuit of conquest. Had these people witnessed the animosity between the two now, the bowelless struggle between King Bowser's forces and the Mushroom Kingdom's defenders... "An illusion," they would claim. "Preposterous," they would proclaim. "Any old fool can tell the two are not, or ever, enemies._

_It is the ones with teeth that we must fear."'_

* * *

Luigi had talked long enough by this point, and these revelations were starting to drain his motivation. Instead, Mario had came to his aid and explained their story to the Toads as they undressed (thankfully, their regular clothes were left on when they had put on the Frog Suits- Luigi already had his fair share of eye-openers today). There was something about their clothing that he felt he should remember. _Hadn't he seen similar weary cloths, coloured orange and red before..?_

"Luigi?" Mario shook him out of his memories, standing with arms above his head like some exaggerated monster. The taller plumber stood dumbfounded, but quickly cottoned on as to what Mario needed of him. He nodded, turned and ran on the spot as if afraid. 'The Beast' mimed wings blowing, Luigi flung himself into the floor. The two play-acted up to their current situation, trying desperately hard not to go beyond paralanguage (Mario still had self-esteem issues since Peach had commented on his deep voice after the seven Koopa hotels incident. His monthly voice-therapy sessions were still ongoing). Finally, Luigi lied down, eyes closed, at the point of the story where they had fallen into the lake, unconscious to the world.

Mario leant in towards him, head inclined towards his bro, lips puckered up.

"Touch me, and I kill you."

Mario moved away awkwardly, abruptly bowing to his audience. Of course, it was completely illogical for anyone to have understood a word of their story, especially since they didn't use any words. Impossible, really.

"Oh, I see!" exclaimed Wilder. The others nodded wisely. "So to you two, we were the ones to pop into being, and from your perspectives, we don't make sense since we should be fleeing from that baddie you mentioned!"

Mario smiled sheepishly at the group.

"But, then," Wilder murmured, pacing between the two plumbers, "if things here aren't as you guys saw them... what actually happened?"

Everywhere thought for a second; it was the first time they tried to determine how the two parties met. Then, soundlessly, Mario removed his hand from his chin and held it up. He pointed to the clock tower in the distant Toad Town.

It was wounded.

* * *

_'Even by the seconds, the fear does dwindle. The foes of old are the bugs of today. I have not lived for such a length, but had I breathed the air of creation's first steps, I have faith Gloombas may be upheld as its demons, and Lakitus, the embodiments of death._

_Well, they still are, I gather. But that's beside the point._

_In this era that I refer to, terror was the response to many, now commonplace creatures. You fear what you do not understand, and one fear stood out above the rest._

_The enemy was many, but it needn't be: one was threat enough._

_Hmm. I could laugh, if crying wasn't so easy. The legion isn't dead. Time is like peace to them: it doesn't exist. And that is the shame- a defeat for them which time will not release them from._

_At least, fools hope so in their hearts. I doubt it. The naïve dot them around our world as mere hazards, puny little pets. They once ruled the worlds. Now they are but dots in them. For now._

_Back then, though, they came at night.'_

* * *

Mario and Luigi journeyed slowly through Toad Town as they sought to find an inn for the night, or longer. 'Longer' being very likely. The 'Super Swimmer Buddies' were sympathetic to their plight, if not suspecting that some particularly whacky mushrooms were to blame for them believing they had such a strange story, but had no suggestions, bar finding a roof to sleep under, and doing so before night arrived. The sun was setting behind the two, and they still had no luck.

Their backs ached, as did their hearts to see the past they had fallen into. Every step they took, an air of expectation enveloped them. "Hey, there's a dojo just across from here!" Mario's eyes glistened as he hoped to stop off at Club 64 and indulge in some nostalgia. Both wanted to lay in Minh T.'s flower garden for a moment and let the aromas distract them from their aches.

But, of course, they were in the past. Toad Town was lifeless, like everyone withdrawn into their homes. Which they had. There was no dojo, no Club 64 to lounge around at, and no Minh T. or flowers for them to rest in. Instead, crates full of wooden Bullet Bills (the steel industry wasn't so advanced back then) sat at each spot.

Mario picked one of them up, and spun its sleek body in his hands. This whole business about war was very worrying, and clearly it wasn't like the typical short, frequent invasions they were used to. Every building they passed, even the least significant household, was heavily barred and bolstered like some sort of secure houses.

The only ones that weren't were destroyed.

The Mario Bros. frowned at each other. They _really_ needed to find that inn...

Something howled in the distance. They froze. It howled again. No, _two_ somethings. Then another cry to the night. And another. And another...

They ran for it.

_'The ones with the teeth were the unceasing foe, and they could be big as they could be smart. In truth, they didn't need to come out every night in their ritual and stalk the Kingdom, chomping in their numbers. And it wasn't that they needed to hunt, since they never hungered and were never satiated._

_No. They just enjoyed to scare.'_

The two plumbers were panting with the exertion, knowing that whatever was out there, there was a reason they were out. Dashing to the edge of a small grocers, Mario skidded to a halt and held his hands above his head. The green plumber bounced on his palms and onto the brown-tiled roof above, peering around for whatever roamed in the dark. Mario wall-jumped behind him and flipped onto the tile next to him. He, too, was on the lookout, and also shuddered at the sound of another howl. It was closer now.

Recovering, Mario placed a hand on Luigi's shoulder and directed his attention to a wonky two-floor building to their left, a sign nailed above its doorway- 'LETMIA INN.' Neither said anything; they only sped towards it, leaping from roof to roof. It was only a few seconds away.

Something- _somethings?_\- heavy progressed with them too, heavy thuds coming ever closer. Sounding only seconds away too.

_'Likewise, from Dimble Woods to Toad Town, everyone who heard of the legion followed their own ritual- hiding. Every night, without fail, because if not one night, there would never be another. Down went the shutters, off went the music, all until the next day when they could again taste sweet freedom, and be exultant that they were not yet tasted. Not yet._

_The mornings brought together the peoples in their shared happiness. "Yeah!" they would say. "We got good luck last night!" Conveniently forgetting the missing who didn't. _

_The mornings brought together the peoples._

_The terror of the nights, though, brought mothers to betray sons, and best friend to abandon best friend. Were you out? You stay out. Few would risk taking in those who endangered their souls in the dark, not even soul mates.'_

They were there. Right before them, the door to the inn. There was no sign of life, and the battered threshold wasn't hugely comforting. But neither was the dull thudding behind them.

Mario shot up the stairway and reached frantically for the doorknob, twisting it as he glinted at the pathways behind them. The door wouldn't open. He became more urgent now, banging on it lightly, trying not to alert those following them.

_'Not even the idols.'_

_Thud. Thud._ Louder and louder, and not just because it was getting nearer.

Luigi was now joining in with his bro, pounding on the door with his hands, with his body. The older brother grabbed him and glared- what would be the point of breaking in if those pursuing them could just follow through afterwards? Again they hit against the door, the walls, the windows. No response. Just the sound of their palms crashing against the inn. And the hunters right behind them.

_'Not even inns.'_


	9. Dying

_Thud. Thud. Thud._

Maybe that was the creatures following behind them. Maybe it was their hearts pounding in their chests, dreadfully aware they wouldn't beat much longer. _Did it really matter?_ Mario didn't think so. Though Luigi refused to stop hitting against the walls, the only thing the older brother cared about was to save him from the worst that would happen.

...behind them... that sound... _jaws?_ Jaws, opening and closing, snarling... they sounded huge. _Hungry._

Mario looked at the green plumber again. So innocent, so undeserving of the death that would swallow him.

He took out his hammer, levelled it towards Luigi's head. This would be quick. He'd be afraid, then he'd be _nothing_. _Did they get in? Were they doomed? _He'd never know. It was for the best. What any bro would do. Mario raised it high. He prepared to throw.

And Luigi whirled round, expression moving from panic to confusion. Neither moved for a vague second. Then, much to Mario's surprise, Luigi grinned.

"Oh, _of course!_" Luigi exclaimed. "That's a brilliant idea, bro! You're the best!" He nodded, in apparent understanding, and quickly ran to the other side of the inn. When Mario reached him, he was frantically smacking his own hammer into one of the building's weakest spots. He eyed Mario, a look that told him his help would be _much_ appreciated. Though he didn't get the plan, Mario joined in. It wasn't their hearts beating now; it was their might against the wood. And the wood was failing.

The wall was moving in further, and though they worked fast, Mario feared it wasn't fast enough. Abruptly, however, it caved in, and through the cloud of dust they could catch very faint forms inside. Before it could clear, Luigi yanked the hammer out of Mario's hand and dashed with the two over to the side of the inn.

There was still no sight of those following them, but Luigi knew he had only one chance. Inhale, exhale. He stared determinedly at a distant tree. Dashed towards it. Jumped- one, two, and... He managed the triple jump, and at its peak, he threw the hammers held behind him with as much force as he could muster. They spun through the air- pointlessly?

He wasn't at all sure if his attempt had worked. There wasn't time to check- he burst back towards the rear of the inn, unwilling to even glance behind him. Reaching the edge, gratefully, he received the confirmation he needed- two hollow sounds, the sounds of metal thwacking into a hollow tree. Luigi allowed himself a peek from the corner of his eye as he turned on the spot, and his eyes bulged in his head. Coming through the alley, cloaked in shadows- _movement! Undeniably movement!_ Their pursuers had reached them!

With one final sprint, Luigi crossed over to where Mario waited and, without a word, manhandled him through the gap. He ducked through deftly after him, pulling his twin brother to one side. They didn't dare breathe.

Their ears strained to hear anything for a moment; any signs that they were still being followed. Thud, thud... The steps grew increasingly light, distant. Heading towards the tall tree, no doubt, to discover what had broke against the tree.

Satisfied they were safe, the Mario Bros. smiled at each other as they exchanged a high five. Breaths poured out of them, held back no longer. The green plumber briefly rubbed his legs, gaining his breath as he did.

"Seriously, bro..." he huffed, "you'd very quick-thinking just then... I'd never of considered... to distract them with our hammers!"

_'You're too modest',_ Mario thought, sardonically.

"Y'know, I actually saw the things that were chasing us... Well, I sorta did. It was dark, and I wasn't staying around... to get a good impression... But they were round, I think. Like angry spheres! Not all round... I saw a flash of teeth, a big white eye... Reminded me of something, not sure what..."

Mario nodded and hummed as appropriate, reassuring Luigi that he was listening while he wandered in the dark. The inn didn't seem remarkably different compared to the sort they were used to, which they took for granted since the Kingdom always had its way of making those in it feel comfortable. What else did they need, when they had peace, food and a roof to sleep under?

..._company_. What they, and this empty edifice, really, _really_ missed. Mario pottered into the next room- the main room, he surmised. Walking over to what was likely the reception desk, he brushed his gloves against everything within reach, inquisitive. There was no dust. He fell back onto the tall chair behind the desk, and was surprised that it wasn't as cold as he had expected.

There may not have been anyone else within sight, but someone else was definitely here once, and quite recently too. But the inn was large, and weary as it looked, it was far healthier in strength than some of the homes they had seen. So why would anybody have left?

"Gee, this is creepy..." muttered Luigi, almost to himself. "No sign of life, no sign of death, either! The only other thing alive is this Philadelphus plant!"

Mario turned his eyes to the plant halfheartedly. Botany was another subject he couldn't so much as flick a moustache at, but when he noticed it properly, he became suspicious. Sure, it was a flower in an inn- hardly the unique selling point of the year- but its placement was... _odd._ It stood prettily in a level mound of soil, held in a round green pot that rested to the right of Mario's seat. The issue was, the plant was far too short to be seen over the desk, unless someone leaned over it like Luigi had. If it was meant to be decorative, it could only be failing, and if it was only for the benefit of the receptionist, then wouldn't someone have begged that the pleasure could be extended to the guests?

...unless it _wasn't_ there to be a pleasure. Unless it had some other meaning. The Mario Bros. analysed the plant. _Unless..._ Mario crept slowly towards the Philadelphus, the way in which one may approach a sleeping Piranha Plant. He hesitated, as if uncertain, and wrapped his hand around the plant. It felt rigid and cold. He pulled.

Instead of it being ripped out of the soil, the Philadelphus plant came out with it, as if the two were bonded. Because the two _were_ bonded. The 'plant' and 'soil' were both carved out of wood and painted as needed, to cover up what was really kept underneath.

"A warp pipe!" Luigi peered wonderingly into the newly revealed hole. "Very tricky people, whoever did this!" His confidence wavered as he jumped over to it. He started to fidget. "Umm... Say, bro, let's just put the plant back on and pretend we didn't see anything, eh? Keep their secret, secret, eh?... You're gonna go down anyway, aren't ya."

Mario nodded.

"..._oh,_ alright. I'll go down with ya, as you insist. Shall I go first?" '_Please say no...'_

Mario nodded.

_'Drat...'_ "Okay, then, let's-a go, I guess..." Luigi stretched awkwardly in the enclosed space; slowly and painfully, like a yoga novice. He straightened his dungarees, adjusted his cap, took out a comb to curl his moustache. He excused himself to go use the toilet, and when he came back, looked down at his clothing that was untidy once more. He straightened his dungarees, adjusted his cap, took out a comb-

Mario nodded. Twice.

Luigi paused, his face the epitome of anxiety. "Err, just... let me finish this first, if that's alright?"

Mario grabbed for the little brown comb, and before Luigi knew it, he had tossed it down the pipe.

"..."

Luigi didn't even entertain the thought of trying to procrastinate even further, lest he ends up the one thrown down. He gulped, and leapt down timidly. Mario followed with a sigh. Just _what_ had they got themselves into?

They couldn't see a thing as they progressed down the pipe, as per usual, but somehow the journey seemed darker than they were used to. But warm. Definitely warm. With all the pipes the Mario Bros. had traversed, being able to read the history of each one had become an ability of theirs. Shiny pipes were new or in regular use. Dirty pipes that were still in good shape were probably accessed mainly by rogues, and those that weren't so resilient weren't accessed at all. They could even predict the pipe's age from the intensity of its imperfections.

If a pipe was this warm, people had plunged down here recently, and many people at that.

That is, presuming it was _people_ they were dealing with.

When they reached the end almost a minute later, they had to step out slowly for their eyes to adjust to the candlelight. Concrete walls surrounded them, only about four metres apart from each other. The ceiling was elevated only eight feet above the ground, but a small sag in the centre gave the impression it was trying for lower. Overall, not a nice room for someone with claustrophobia.

There was also a strong wooden door in front of the plumbers, which, like the majority of those they had passed by in this time, was heavily bolted and had a small peephole opposite the doorknob. Mario tiptoed over to it, even though he could guess what to expect. He tried the door, and, thankfully, didn't have a heart attack and die when it refused to open.

Luigi placed a nervous hand onto his shoulder, hoping for an answer. "What do we do now, bro?"

Mario didn't respond directly. Instead, he bent down and laid his hat on the concrete floor. It was very alienating to be in this place, in this time, and even Mario had to concede that his mind wasn't exactly teeming with ideas about how to get back to their proper home. For now, though, they needed to sleep, and in this eerie little room would be good enough.

The green plumber copied his example, setting his own head on his own cap. They lied down on their 'beds', insecurity their bedsheets. Uncomfortable, maybe, but comfort seemed like _years_ away.

* * *

_"...hey, I said wake up! Come on... suicidal or something... Catch a cold..."_

_...what..?_ He'd only just gotten to sleep, now some guy's trying to wake him up... Mario was too groggy to shoo him away, why can't people just let him sleep? Plumbers do more than they realise...

"Get up, you rotund wreck! I only carried your sorry butt this far, I ain't getting ya any further."

Mario wasn't just tired, he was tired of this jerk too._ 'Rotund wreck',_ indeed!

...the last vestiges of sleep were ebbing away from him, the first details of reality were swamping him as he was shaken by the yellow-skinned jerk standing over him... _Yellow-skinned?_ That should mean something, if only he could remember...

The 'jerk' was speaking again... "Still won't give up, eh, dumbo? That's such a shame..."

His hands were reaching for something. Something in his pocket... It looked like...

"...most people wouldn't choose death." The 'jerk' tightened his grip on his hammer, the way only a Hammer Bro. could.

Mario woke fully in an instant. As if all his energy had been reserved for this moment, he pushed himself up in the blink of an eye. His body flipped- a perfect 360°- and his brown shoes struck directly against the Hammer Brother's gaping beak.

Luigi. _Where was Luigi?_ Another Hammer Brother was dealing with him on the other side of the hallway, shaking his younger brother. _His younger brother. Not for long._ The Koopa was raising its head, only mildly comprehending the hell it was in for. It still looked fairly clueless as Mario slammed into his shell and kicked his prone body into the ceiling. Luigi was beginning to stir, but Mario's fury had yet to cease. He sprang up into the air, reaching the Koopa's body as it crunched against the ceiling. He bunched his fists together, aiming his final move-

"STOP!"

Mario's anger did not subside, yet there was no way he could ignore the authoritative command that pervaded the wooden hallway. With great reluctance, he released his tension and landed quietly alongside the injured Hammer Brother.

Emerging from the hallway's end, an old Toad stepped through, walking stick in hand. His gold-spotted mushroom cap glistened in the mild gloom, in spite of his age. Even his dark black eyes had a certain sheen to them, but there seemed to be plain darkness mixed in with it too. Luigi moved to speak, but the Toad raised his hand placatingly. The Mario Bros. watched silently as the old Toad moved soundlessly over to the two Hammer Brothers. One at a time, he helped the Koopas up onto their feet and rubbed over their pains as he whispered with them. Nobody else could catch the words that were exchanged, but only an idiot couldn't tell that the three were on good terms. The Koopas glinted at Mario as they withdrew, and now only the moustached brothers and the old Toad remained. He cleared his throat.

"I am Toadinbello, the mayor of Toad Town. I am sorry that your entry into here wasn't such a hospitable event, but hospitality is a rare commodity these days. Now, would you care to explain who you two are, and why you're here?"

Luigi raged. "Those Hammer Bros. dragged us here, that's why! We were perfectly happy just lying next to the pipe back there, finally away from whatever is creeping around up there, and those guys just came along and-"

"And brought you to shelter."

_"...huh?"_

"This place they brought you into, it's a war shelter. You two were just lying outside it, and the Hammer Bros. noticed you through the peephole. Greatly concerned they were... Didn't you know the password, you muggins?"

Their faces were blank.

"'_Segale_'! My word, how can you forget the password for your life?" Toadinbello stared more closely at the disheveled strangers. "Come to think of it, why aren't you part of the war effort? You certainly don't look like strangers to it, as those poor Hammer Bros. can testify."

Mario and Luigi shared a glance. Luigi sighed. "It's a _long_ story... I can at least say that I'm-a Luigi, this is my big bro, Mario, and we're _really_ not up-to-date. Is this war you're talking about... Is it against those creatures out there?" Toadinbello nodded; nobody needed to ask what he was referring to. "_What_ are they?"

"Well, we haven't got much knowledge to work from, truth be told. Rather unusual beings, they are, not even naming their species themselves. Right now, we call them '_Gnashers_', after King Gnash, the leader of this war."

The conversation died an awkward death at this point. The trio shuffled their feet, unsure what to say next. In the end, it was Luigi who piped up. "Could you tell us any more, please? It's not easy, getting about in a new old world."

"'_New old_'..? Err, why of course. Please, follow me, and I shall make you wise. And _keep your voices down!_ People are trying to sleep around here!"

* * *

"This hideout is the only spot in Toad Town where anyone can live out the nights. You said you'd a run in with those fiends tonight- that's the time when they come to torment us. Whatever defences we may put around the outskirts- and trust me, we've tried them all- they break through into our lives every night. They stalk around a bit, ensure they haven't gone without damaging and taking some property, then go back to their own kingdom. Dreadfully annoying and unfair, I'm sure you appreciate, but we had to bear grin and bear it. Let them know they couldn't smash our spirits.

"That all changed, however. Eventually, their true malice shone out in the darkness. It was no longer just the property that disappeared. Citizens, whole families would vanish with the retreat of the moon. Little Toads and Koopas would chase shadows around in the streets the morning after, and you know what they said? What they _always_ said? _'Where's my mum? Where's my dad? Why have they gone?'_ ...we _hated_ it. We knew just as much as they did. _Feared_ just as much as they did.

_'What do we do?'_ We hid from the questions of the children by immersing ourselves into this one. It was clear we needed to stop treating our enemies as bandits, but as the corrupt gods they truly are. So we banged together the minds of all the leaders we had, think of a solution that could keep us safe. It took a few weeks and a few souls, may they rest in peace, but we got things arranged. Everyone learnt the drill- once the sun leaves us to death's mercy, up until we gain its temporary grace once again, we conceal ourselves down here. We learnt, you see, that the inn had such a large basement that it could actually, safely, hold all of Toad Town in its depths. The innkeeper was so very kind to allow us this refuge, but _naturally_ he could hardly deny a whole community its survival.

"And this, is_ us._ Cooped down in a murky basement, where we sleep and have nightmares of the terrors above. There's little problem with resources- just enough midnight snacks to keep some of us full! This is part of an inn, so it goes without saying it can store the essentials.

"Yet... we only have so very few, what with everyone's- understandable- reluctance to leave Toad Town, and the burning up of what little we do have. Some of the parents in here, they're starving themselves so their children can know what it is like to not be hungry. But it's still not enough. Our geniuses have managed to manipulate the conditions down here so that we could actually grow some crops, but they won't be harvested anywhere near when we need them."

"Wait," interrupted Luigi as he shot to the mayor's side. "My bro's still got an Ice Flower on him"- Luigi spotted the look of incomprehension on the mayor's face- " which, I guess, _hasn't_ been discovered yet. It means he can throw ice balls, so if Mario could freeze enough people down here so that you could get through the war, then maybe-"

"We'd skip the worst of it? I'm afraid I must dispel your wishful thinking. Not all of the 'Gnashers' stalking the streets at night are the same size as the ones you glimpsed. It would not be insanity to believe that out there, somewhere, there is even just one Gnasher roaming our world, that one day will uncover our hideout and corner us in our graves. And regardless, may I beg of you not to underestimate those fiends. Never do that. They'll find a way. It could be tonight. Tomorrow night. We won't know until they do, but someday, _they will get us._

"Oh, and one more thing- that's not how cryonic suspension works. I think you've been reading too many dodgy science-fiction novels, young man."

Luigi sulked to himself. _He loved his science-fiction..._

Mario, realising that Luigi would be too busy daydreaming about colourful sabers and funny droids for a good few minutes, decided to put his own question to the old Toad: _why hadn't those frog-suited Toads let them know about this place?_

"Hmm, I imagine those 'Super Swimmer Buddies' couldn't have given you the password even if they wanted to. Brave old souls, they've been out so long I'd doubt they even knew about this hideout! I am quite glad, nevertheless, to hear of their wellbeing. The group is what you would call the Castle's secret defenders... secret to the enemy, of course! Not to us; everyone's heard of the Super Swimmer Buddies. The Princess organised the group soon after the Gnashers began their invasions. Had you noticed the slope that is the Castle's stone walkway? There's a reason!

"As those 'Gnashers' are practically spherical, if they were to roll off the walkway on their way to invade the Castle, they would not to be able to climb back out of the moat. This is where the Super Swimmer Buddies come most handy! As crude as it sounds, the bodies of those drowned fiends are then dragged up and passed along to our army to be used as resources. Nothing is wasted! Throw them down a hill like a boulder, slap together a barricade using them and a bit of glue; whatever's most convenient! Our swimming allies even dare to propel themselves to where some of the Gnashers have been known to congregate, just for the chance they may discover something of vital importance. Astounding folk, they truly are."

The taller plumber had exterminated his last sci-fi thought, and jumped back into the conversation. "Wow, you guys are all coping like pros. I don't think I'd want to face up to these creepy Gnasher guys, Frog Suit or not. Like all your worries..."

He cut himself off as he saw the look of quiet sorrow that passed the Toad's face. "Um, are you... okay? Is there something else?"

"..._yes_. Yes, there is more. Last week, we went through signing our register as we always do. Establish who's still with us, you see. We delegated a young Koopa called Bramley to the job, since he could always spot an apple from a day. Observant little fellow... But last week, he came into my office and thrust the register in front of me. I skimmed through it with him, and at first, I was quite pleased we'd the same number coming in as yesterday. That was a first. But there was another first with the register of people coming out. It didn't match those coming in.

"Betha, Jode, Carter, Viola. Two Koopas, two Toads. _All vanished._ At first, I reprimanded Bramley for such a dangerous mistake. Four people don't just dissipate into thin air. But... of course he was right. He's always right. Lo and behold, none of them could be found doing their business the next day. When night fell again, they never arrived. And more have disappeared since then. It's the worst news that could spread, and spread it did. The last thing people need is to think their safehold isn't safe."

Toadinbello rested his head in his palms, allowing his stiff composure to crumble in their presence. They were kind, letting him unleash his fears to the two men he had met less than an hour ago. Neither wanted to upset the Toad any further, so they waited patiently for him to regain his peace. Once he lifted his teary eyes back up to them and wiped them dry, however, it became clear he had not yet concluded.

"There is… _one more thing._ Three days ago, Bramley staggered into my office with eyes open wide. I thought he was going to faint, how pale his skin was! I looked at the register as he dropped it on my desk, and… our problem was flipped on its head. Everyone that we had expected to flee into our hideout didn't fail us, all going in were accounted for. It was the people going out that was odd. You know who were with them? Betha, Jode, Carter, and Viola.

"Do you understand it? The souls we had feared had fallen into the Minus World… _just jumped back in,_ as if 'continues' just grew on trees!"

"..._and_..?"

"..._and, they were not alone._ Within these walls, there have been sightings of… _ghosts_."

A knowing glance passed between the Mario Brothers. _Could it be..?_

"Citizens would report seeing unfamiliar people working around down here. One brave Koopa tried to talk to one of them that was lifting some barrels around, but the ghosts don't respond. They only flit through reality, like they're in a world of their own!"

_"A time of their own…"_ Luigi muttered.

* * *

Mario and Luigi were just nearing the end of their tale so far, when Toadinbello drew their walk to a close. Behind where he stood, they could see another ordinary door. No, wait... It looked as if bolted, unlike most of the doors in this hideout, and on the top, someone had scratched words into the wood-_ 'DO NOT OPEN.'_

"Hmm. You two, you claim you come from another time?" queried Toadinbello. "Perhaps you could talk to another… _visitor_… to our time? He arrived a few days ago, yet we've gotten naught out of him. The only thing he ever natters on about is that _'time is wrong'._ Unfortunately, his random outbursts prevents him from being allowed out to mingle with the rest of the people..."

Toadinbello stared pointedly at the two.

"I have faith in you both, however. As pathetic as it sounds, Mario and Luigi, I believe your nature is pure, even if it is clouded by brashness. I believe you can do something for the poor fellow in here. _Will you try?"_

The old Toad unlocked the door and pulled it out, revealing the darkness within. They could hear chains clinking, and underneath it, hushed murmurs. Mario leaned forward, bringing his head through the doorway.

"_Please_..."

The chains clinked again. Someone stepped towards the light- it was... a Toad. But his clothes looked more like the kind that Mario and Luigi were familiar with, those from their time. Haunted eyes peered into Mario's soul.

"Please... you've got to help me... My name's Mucho, and... _God is angry!_"

* * *

**Hello! So, I just wanted to mention something quickly that I talked about in the last chapter I've done of 'Your Toad-Faced Fan'. Real life's a big distraction at the moment, so don't expect chapters to be leaping out like Cheep Cheeps or anything. Still, I'll try to get something down when I can!**


	10. Empty Stop

_Hundreds of years later..._

As much as Mucho had once loved stargazing (_once_ loved, regrettably- getting consumed by your greatest passion tends to kill any appreciation you may have for it), he wasn't too fond of the star gazing back at him. Which it was doing right now.

Well, yeah, it didn't have eyes as such. At least, none that the young Toad could perceive as he hovered in its darkness. Physically featureless, devoid of conscience, most likely... but it was impossible to shrug off the sensation of being observed, no matter how much he wanted to. And, _oh_, did he want to.

"Let's not leave you in want, little Toad. Let there be light."

No sooner had the command been uttered, that light flickered into existence and revealed to him another world. _Flickered_, not exploded; this new world was brighter, but not bright. If he could plough into the deepest, loneliest pit in the Mushroom Kingdom and brought but the warmth of a small pre-owned torch, that was how bright the place he was currently in would look. It wasn't a pit, though. More like a watch compared to a rock, actually.

Surrounding him, dull steel walls, four of them forming a cuboid chamber adorned with a cluster of screens and controls. So many buttons and levers... all grey of course. The only varieties were in the intensity of them, but at the very least there were about fifty shades of them. There was a sad deprivation of windows, yet beyond the room's sole hexagonal door, one could still hear the whispers of an angry breeze approaching the confused Toad. There was no sign of the man that had just spoken to him, but indubitably somebody had been working nearby. The single leather chair that was revolved towards the largest screen clarified this, but provoked more confusion than it settled. Who could find leisure in a place like this? What could they possibly be sitting down to watch on such a regular basis? Just one chair- _just one_ authority in charge of all this?

This was a dream. Had to be. _'Just close your eyes, Mucho,'_ he thought, _'close them till your snooze melts away. Positive thoughts, positive thoughts...'_

"Wake up, young Mucho. Wake up. Your long sleep will be given in due course; for now, your life is still of use to me."

Mucho's eyes burst open as if the newcomer's presence had ripped them open. A tall, dark figure was standing over him quite calmly. A black suit covered a symmetrical body that just radiated confidence from every well-toned muscle. The grey hair was smooth, short, a very formal style for a very organised man. It was hard to decipher in the darkness, but a content little smirk ripped through his chiselled face. A humourless joke that defied the charm that his character could so easily have mastered. In basic terms: in appearance he was a generic, camp meanie. But his hoar eyes… there was a reflection in them. Not just of Mucho, as he stared into them, but of… _action_. That was the word, _action_. Too much action to identify what sort of action, and about what, but that seemed the point. It was as if all things were swirling in them, perpetually… Mucho lowered his gaze.

"Huh… you… who are you..?"

"I am Operis. And _you_ are Mucho."

Operis gestured that Mucho may rise from the steel floor, without really offering any assistance in doing so.

"W-wait..! How do you know my name..?"

"How should I not? My knowledge is transcendent, young Mucho. I see and know all. I do not crush one ant without having counted its days, nor the pitiful few you have remaining on your soul."

_'God complex much?'_ Mucho intended to say. Instead, he started to add up the pieces. His pupils sprung out of his head upon the final piece. "Hold on… So, if I just died- I died, didn't I?- and you're so great, then… is this the Overthere? No offense, but you've let the place go a bit, haven't you? I mean, my bedroom would be a better afterlife than this. Yeah, why not send us all there? Especially the Toadettes, it's no afterlife without Toadettes. _No afterdark, either…_"

"You are not dead, young Mucho. Not yet. And I warn you not to criticise my home decor. You may soon become a part of it."

He spoke as if advising a young child, but the friendliness was just a mockery. It wasn't just the room's temperature that made him shiver.

"Are you frightened, little creature? _Good_. The more emotional, the better. But do excuse me for a moment..."

Nonchalantly, 'God' stepped towards a screen that was in operation, filled with... _With_...

The boy with the red cap on the screen's left side, Mucho could understand his existence well enough. Nothing surprising there. Reaching into his pockets, the boy took out and threw a sphere that was coloured equally with red and white. At first, the ball appeared reluctant to do anything but vibrate on the spot, but seconds later, Mucho's face contorted out of surprise. _A creature had emerged!_ Out of a flash of red light, some sort of great yellow rat leapt onto the field, and _was that electricity leaking out of its red cheeks?_

Mucho would have questioned it, if not for the even stranger sight across from the two. Now, even though he had never encountered such a strange variety of rodent before, it was still somewhat recognisable in regards to its form. The other creature, on the other hand, was like an awkward pillar. One side was shorter than the other, and each side had impossibly flat outlines. The rest was even weirder; no eyes, mouth, or anything, seemed to characterise it, just disharmonious pixels that grated against each other in practically every degree.

"I call it Missingno." It took Mucho a second to realise that was Operis speaking. "I deemed that it sounded apposite for a creature that does not belong in that world, and it suits my sentiments. I will be _'missing no'_ part of this puny world once it has perished."

Mucho didn't laugh. "Perish? _What_?"

"Missingno is a glitch in the world, a fatal one at that. It is in the naïve trainer's interest to catch it, and beyond his experience to know that his world will be corrupted with this. One of my favourite means of annihilating worlds, I admit, letting themselves do it. Almost decided to do likewise with your own world, but things do change, I'm sure you appreciate. But that's besides the point. What do you think?"

Operis inclined his head to view Mucho's reaction, but the young Toad had vanished. Behind where he had been standing, the door was elevated high above the floor.

"Hmm. I really should keep the doors closed when I have guests around," he mused. "Of course, as I had _hoped_ that this one would flee..." He smiled. The door descended behind him as he walked to where he knew his next victim would be. He hoped he wouldn't get there too early. He didn't want to stop the fun.

* * *

_Maybe this place doesn't have an exit. Or maybe it did, but only a technogeek like Operis could access it. Maybe he wasn't the only one; maybe there were others here like Operis. Or maybe they were worse. Maybe they were just behind the next door, waiting for him, or maybe the darkness he was just in had stolen him out of life. Maybe it was playing with him, letting him believe he was alive, and he was more dead than the deepest game over could ever leave him..._

_...or maybe this internal monologue was getting him nowhere!_ But Mucho couldn't stop himself; every corridor he had dashed through after escaping from Operis looked almost exactly identical to its predecessor as it did with its successor. Either Operis liked to convey the sense of infinite gloom and fear, or he was running low on budget. And the former made much more sense, because it was working.

Another door, another day- at least, it felt like he had been running around in this building that long. The door raised upon his presence, and again Mucho wondered why he was allowed to get this far. This time, surprising him, the room he entered was much more unique than the rest he'd been in. Much larger, too. He peered around the dark chamber. The sound of his timid steps reverberated around the room. A sudden flash of bright light caught his eye…

Screens. Lined up on the wall, hundreds of thousands of screens…Row upon row, reaching up to the roof and beyond. _Was there a roof?_ Whether there was one or not, he certainly couldn't see it.

In one, he could see a young boy talking to a perky yellow dog as he sat behind his desk in what looked like a town hall. In another, a blonde swordsman in a green tunic was warding off a horde of pirate ships as his train sped along the tracks. In yet another, a yellow creature ploughed through a maze, devouring any ghost or pellet in his path. It was like every possible idea in the universe was being visualised in this bleak chamber.

"Ah, there you are, young Mucho. For a moment there, I entertained the thought you killed yourself. Please don't. You wouldn't satisfy the thrill of it."

Operis strolled into the room right after him, as if he were attending a meeting that he had noted down on his personal calendar and notebook. Like everything was going according to schedule. The door clunked behind him.

Mucho put on a brave face, half expecting it would be his last face. "Get away. Just, leave me alone. If you don't give a toss about those in the Kingdom, then it's up to me. And don't threaten me, either. I can be determined when I want to."

If he had anticipated a reaction from Operis, he would have been disappointed. The imposing figure just closed the distance, waiting patiently a few metres away. The Toad decided to change tack.

"These images, what are they?"

Operis smiled. "Worlds, young Mucho. _Worlds_." He walked across to a screen far away from Mucho, a few feet off the ground. "Would you care to look?"

Reluctant to do as he was told, Mucho let curiosity guide him. He shuffled his way next to the screen, peeking cautiously at what it showed. From what he could make of it, a moustached man flying a plane was launching projectiles at a... _UFO?_ It seemed somehow... familiar...

_Of course!_ That pilot was Mario! And this battle, surely he'd heard about it before? Yeah, that alien had kidnapped a Princess Dandelion or something like that, and Mario went to her aid. But that was all _ages_ ago, surely. Nobody had seen that alien for years now...

"Every other screen around you exhibits the same thing- realities. Each one, within my influence." Spoken in the same tone one may use to state they can turn on a lightbulb.

"So, what do they have to do with you? Do you, like, stop them from being thrown out of whack, or something?"

Maybe it was the light bouncing off his eyes, but Mucho could have sworn they were glistening with the irony. "I do not just _regulate_ the worlds, as you suppose I do. No, order in these foolish worlds? These are the centres of _chaos_, and chaos shall I regulate. I have dominion over all worlds, even yours. My tiniest impulse, Mucho, and entire civilisations are overwritten. The most prominent of worlds, down to the most obscure realities…"

"...and you take a lowly Toad like me. Why not the Princess, why not someone important?"

"Ah yes, the lovely Princess Peach. Yes, I had sought to abduct the Princess and hold her prisoner to ensure Mario would not dare oppose my plans. Regrettably, I could afford only the power for one warphole, and it just seemed I was unlucky with my timing. The Princess was in, it seems, another castle. Hence, I soon must resort to more… _extreme_, methods."

"...but, then, why did you take _me_? What do I have to do with anything?"

It didn't seem like Operis would answer at first, too preoccupied with his cold adjustments of the machinery to dote upon flesh and blood. When he did answer, though, he pronounced it with such great contentment.

"Your family."

Mucho's gaze was blank. Operis laughed. _More time to taunt the poor mortal, then..._

"You are one of a long line of descendants, young Mucho, do you realise? Life never rests, and change never halts; yet, there is one key element that binds you with them. You have _seen the stars_. The Conceptual Stars. The very building blocks of everything that you know of in the Mushroom Kingdom. They do not act like bricks or planks of wood, however; they form realities from the thoughts that are invested in them. Once, someone would have reflected in themselves before these stars, and thought… Perhaps, '_if only there existed a vast, populated world, where the most ordinary of brothers led the most extraordinary of adventures... two everyday plumbers, jumping through the palms of danger. Heroes by very nature, friends when death dies away..._' And thus, your world began.

"Life is regulated by their power, not mine. Yet, every 100 years, they require that world's essence to be presented before them. Held by a designated host; somebody whose essence had been present 100 years before, who in turn required a bond with the person before that. You, as with all your other ancestors that were awake for the 'renewal of the stars', as it is called, were born to carry within you a code. This code characterizes your reality in every time, and ensures the Conceptual Stars know what concept they are regulating. In other words, you are a sticky note for them- 'don't forget to renew this world.'

He couldn't quite fathom why such an intelligent god would be so crackbrained as to impart such revolutionary details to a stranger like him. Probably reads Genesis to all his 'guests', Mucho considered. Not that he wouldn't engage with this. "But, if we're 'sticky notes', then what would've happened if we didn't... '_stick_'? If I never came here, would my universe just, y'know, be forgotten?"

"Impossible. Reality twists itself and agonises with the slightest rule it breaks, just to tease the code towards these stars as needed. It dares to contradict even nature for its own benefit- the fact could be that Bloopers choked your last breaths away in a frozen sea whilst hundreds of Poison Mushrooms ravaged your system. The effect would be you _live_. I should know. I've tried." A matter of fact emphasis on 'tried'.

Silence again. Operis liked being questioned, liked it too much. Mucho had the urge to disappoint the git and leave matters at that, but this couldn't compete with his urge to realise the mysteries that plagued him so.

"...why does this matter to you. What could you _possibly_ want from all this?"

The Toad braced himself for another round of being looked down at and 'enlightened'. Instead, Operis' face expressed a more solemn note to him. He was frowning towards Mucho, but not really _at_ him. Clearly it wasn't all 'fun and games.' He shoved his right hand into his pocket, grabbing at something.

"I need your code, young Mucho. That which is part of you, and part of your world. Once I take this code, the code that has enhanced with the centuries of stargazing, I shall know all of how it gives the foundation for all life in your world and enables 'time' to have meaning in it. And then, I shall undo it. Every last moment."

Mucho knew nothing about the time continuum and 'Conceptual Stars', he had only wanted to be a happy little spectator, that was all. But he grasped very well what Operis meant, and even more how he felt about this lunatic.

"What, no, you can't! I'll never be a traitor to my world! To my friends, my family, _none of them_! What madman are you?! It's creeps like you my father defends the Castle against-_ tries to, at least-_ and I'll be darned if you think you're gonna make me let anyone-"

_Pain_. It was pain that silenced him, pain and more. Inside him, there was _something_… or _nothing_…

"Sorry about your argument."

…memories were passing before him. His mum as she held him in her arms, the day he joined the stargazing society, the first time he spoke to Peach and thought, '_wow_!' But he never met Peach, that never happened, and these other sights he was recalling, he _couldn't_ be recalling. _His world,_ not _his eyes..._

"Rather circular fights, aren't they? Circular like life."

.._.no_. He couldn't have. This wasn't right. Those stars, he must have just fallen asleep under them. This has to be a nightmare, it has to be...

"Me, I rather the _full stop._"

And Operis' blade was wrenched out of his flesh. The soul followed. Darkness returned, and this time, there would be no light.

* * *

**Hello again everyone! Sorry about the huge delay, but when exams come your way... :-/**

**I think having to stop for a few weeks sorta threw me off with my writing, and getting Animal Crossing- New Leaf recently didn't really help me avoid distractions (God, that series is addictive...) But anyhow, having published this chapter, hopefully I'll be getting more pumped to continue, so thank you for waiting for me! :-)**

**Oh, and you may notice that the age rating of this story has increased. I think the ending here would be stretching K+ a good deal! I couldn't resist, I had Operis' final words in this chapter planned for quite a while, and I couldn't resist getting an outlet for the idea!**


	11. Why They Fall

**So... you may have read I'm going to work on 'Your Toad-Faced Fan' first, until completion. Yeah... um, let's just pretend you didn't see that... ;) I'm in the mood to write for this again, so bugger to my plans.**

**Oh, and parents- this fanfic is rated T. Just saying. Now then...**

* * *

He was too late.

More than a month away from the Mushroom Kingdom's jeopardous past, he had failed to provide for our heroes when they were in want, and then even in need.

And now he overlooks the consequences.

Having lifted his hand towards issues of stalkerish fans, slavery and psychotic yellow dogs, ED_boi has passed the base issue of starvation- a concern that troubles the Mario Bros. no more.

Left alone with a starving society, a minute stock of stale biscuits and a month's writing inactivity, Mario and Luigi have been forced to wait with the masses as the powers beyond completed Kirby 64 and battled fierce addiction with acapella.

Now not even their bodies can wait. The Ones With Teeth did not slay them- hunger has. Each corpse, side by side, in a last futile gesture of community. A reminder for all deceased that from death there comes life, that within the chaos lies a hidden core of order.

But the maggots cannot read. It is not a circle of symbolism, merely a roundabout of flesh. Not a thought is paid to the lost friendships that they thrive on, nor the timeline unguarded by its heroes or anyone and everyone in it.

Though the meals are exquisite, the small brains inspiring squirms of delight.

The Mario Bros. have become mindless hunks of flesh.

Deformed by the maggots even ED_boi couldn't recognize them now.

They are changed... forever.

* * *

**Okay, guys, last chapter done. Great, eh? Move on, folks, there's nothing to see here, nothing but your 'wtf?' expression reflected on your screens.**

**... okay, sorry, I couldn't resist :p. I had the idea in my head quite a while now, I just couldn't let it sink away.**

**Don't worry... it'll all make sense later...**

**...sorta.**


	12. Drowning in the Pools

**_Say, does anyone here listen to music while they read? If you want to get into the frame of mind I had when writing this, I was listening to the 'Twilight Trail' theme from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. Feel free to say whether you would like me to mention this sort of thing from now on or not…_**

* * *

_"NOOOOOOOO!"_

In that ear-splitting second, even the might of the Beast outside, the loud thuds each time it launched itself at the tired wooden door, were swallowed up by the pure terror of the Princess. Even as Toadsworth and the Professor burst into her bedroom and found her lying disheveled on the bed, her unfathomable panic refused to settle.

"Princess!" cried Toadsworth, "Are you quite alright?"

"Don't worry, feller, I'm _sure_ she's just shrieking with _joy_." E. Gadd muttered drily.

Peach rubbed her wet gloved palms against her blushing cheeks, trying to clear away the tears. "Oh, it was terrible! _A nightmare!_"

E. Gadd frowned, visibly disturbed. "Hmm. Terrible, you say? A nightmare, huh?"

"Excuse me," interrupted Toadsworth, "now is hardly the time for parroting on-"

"Hush, now, old boy, I'm curious. If you don't mind, Princess, could you tell us what it was all about?"

She stepped unsteadily from her pink mattress and paced distractedly around the room, staggering in mental anguish.

"It was like… like I was seeing the future. But it was horrific!"

"How so?"

"Really, now, I would have thought it was quite obvious, wouldn't you agree?" said Toadsworth. "There is a spark from hell attempting to barge through the doors even as we speak! Of course the Princess would have a disturbed slumber about such a thing, who wouldn't if they knew that within an hour we will all be-"

E. Gadd wrapped his scrawny arms around Peach just as her tears began to pour again, glancing back at Toadsworth with a resentful scowl.

"I said 'hush', you loon. The wrong words are hardly going to put the whippersnapper outside in a tizzy, but that doesn't mean we're entirely unaffected too."

In truth, the Professor was quite certain that his 'Consistent-Clawesistent'- a half-rushed, large crab-like gizmo he had thrown together from scraps in the Castle junkheap- could hold the door stable even longer than an hour, _three hours_ quite possibly, but perhaps leaving others to their false beliefs would motivate them to make the most of every second dripping away from them.

The old Toad's face was ashen, tears lined up ready to mirror the Princess' own.

"Oh, Princess… I'm ever so sorry. Please, do forgive this old man. I am worrying just as much, I swear it, as you may be. I've let my own haunting visions overwhelm me, I regret. If only I possessed your strength of character…"

The Professor almost seemed to leap at this, his eyebrows touching the top of his scalp. "Wait. Toadsworth, am I correct in assuming you, too, have had a nightmare of sorts?"

He coughed, awkwardly. "_Yes_, that is so."

"Well, spit it out, then!"

"Alright, alright! No need for impatience." Toadsworth sighed, towing his memory of the horrors back into consciousness. "In my sleep, I was looking over what I start to regard now as a graveyard of ruins; remnants that had been smashed into... sculptures of dust, yes, that's what I thought. Ugly things, they were, lots of bricks chipped away into random pebbles. Nobody in sight, I believe; just footsteps, large ones, imprinted on the floor." He shivered. "Red footsteps. And there were blotches of the very same colour, dotted all over the place."

"Did you recognise where you were, by chance?"

"Not at first. That is, until my view settled at last on this stained glass window that had partly shattered where it laid. It, too, was stained- ha ha, a _stained_ stained glass window, of all the odds- with a red liquid, but it was clear enough to me that it was…"

"_Hey_," E. Gadd spoke softly, "if you wish to leave your account at this point, you feel free."

"No, no. I'm fine. What I was looking at… it was an image of Peach. The exact one I see every morning, heading into the Castle..."

_"...dearie us…"_

Toadsworth waved his hand dismissively. "Ah, mind it not, Professor! It is, as we define it, a dream, nothing more! Precisely what I told the Princess that time she woke up claiming she fought some bubble-spitting frog king-"

"Except, if I'm right…" The Professor strided over to the awestruck damsel. "Princess, does his description match yours at all, by chance?"

"Why, yes, it does!" She gasped. "How could this be?"

"Simple, Princess!" laughed Toadsworth. "We both share the same overriding fear, and we both go to sleep. Of course we would both conjure up the same fate for the Castle and its people. What else could we envisage, hmm, that monstrosity rushing through the door to lay down a takeaway?"

His mirth died away as the Professor sighed pointedly behind him.

"I may be old, but thank Grambi I'm not senile…"

"EXCUSE ME! I am quite sound, thank you for asking-"

"Please, just answer my question!" shouted Peach. "How could this be- and _this_ is for the Professor, Toadsworth, _not you_."

E. Gadd gazed wearily at the room's wooden mantelpiece. "I have a nasty suspicion…" He jolted back towards the other two, eyes darting accusingly between them. "But you two aren't telling me something." They averted his frantic gaze, sheepish. "Well, be out with it, then!"

Uncomfortable with the following silence, Peach took it upon herself to answer. "After I'd seen all this… I realised something. I couldn't see my arms, my dress, anything."

"Like only your soul was there, on its lonesome?"

"Yes, precisely. And my soul felt like it was... _falling_, I guess. Everything there just seemed to erase itself, and the Castle as it is now took its place. It was creepy… there was one pool of blood-"

A dull thud broke her track of thought, Peach's steward twitching awkwardly on the light pink carpet. "Woe is me… E for everyone no more..!" he muttered, just as he fainted away.

"Umm…"

E. Gadd smiled awkwardly. "Err, go on, Princess."

"Well, when that puddle disappeared, I could see that, instead, there was now a young couple standing where it just was." She sniffled. "Can you imagine, Professor? Even if people come in here later on, nobody will even know who it is they'll be standing in. They won't be able to tell whether their shoes are in a stranger or their children, not once that Beast-"

She couldn't take it anymore. She broke down. Tears slided down her puffy cheeks, traces of individuality which the Beast was soon to shatter.

"Oh, Princess… it's worse than that, I'm afraid…"

_"Worse?"_ she shrieked. "_How_ can it be worse, in what way?"

His tone softened, his pronunciation slowed to ease her into his mindset. "You said your soul was falling… and everything returned to normal… Princess, unless I'm very much mistaken, you've just reversed through an aborted timeline."

"A-aborted… timeline?"

"I must admit, I've had the same experience as you, youngster. It seems that you, me and grandad right here are the only ones to have had this 'dream', and I think I get why. Only us three, in the whole Castle, have personally experienced time travel."

Peach nodded, beginning to swim in his mental streams. "Only we have used your time machine."

"Yes, quite right. The strength of Toadsworth's experience wasn't quite as strong or convincing as yours, but bear in mind it was his younger self that had time travelled, not his most recent self. TMN is working its magic on him quicker as a result."

"'TMN'..?"

"Time Movement Naturalisation, my girl! Keeps the world and its people shipshape whenever something meddles with the flow of time. Consider it an anaesthetic- if time rewrites itself, you get sedated until the universe has dragged itself back to the proper timeline. You wake up, and the time river flows ahead."

"Was this in GCSE Science?"

"No, course not. They'd only have taught you that barn owls eat voles and potassium goes _BANG!_ if you're considering a career in terrorism. Rubbish lessons. Anyhoo, since we've left the normal flow of time, even briefly, TMN has worn off somewhat for us. We're essentially conscious as history puts the bandages on itself, though our memory can be a bit fuzzy with some details."

"So… everything we saw… that was _real_?"

"No. Like I say, it's an aborted timeline. It wasn't real for us."

Hope fluttered in her heart for a millisecond, until it scorched itself under her logic. The destruction she saw had the same cause as present now in her universe, so what was to say there wouldn't be the same effect?

And she noted how truthful he sounded when he said the devastation didn't actually concern them, how it 'wasn't real for us.'

The problem being the perceptible emphasis on the 'us'. In that other timeline, with that other Princess Peach, nobody was 'us'. That didn't mean they didn't feel anything, though. But it also didn't mean they'd be feeling again...

"But, again, that isn't the problem at hand. It's not that we've seen what the Beast can do to us." He frowned. "It's that we've seen it. We've seen another timeline, merged with another possible future. Everything is in indecision, facts are becoming open to myths. Time is in flux, clux, _trucks_, the mix. Which can only mean… they're expanding."

"What's expanding?"

His dead lips curled into a matter-of-fact smile. "The wounds in time, it seems."


	13. Pawns

**-may or may not rename this story 'A Mind Rape in the Making', provided I get plastered enough-**

**Just a heads up, what you're about to read is the words of the narrator from chapter 8 ('Conflict'). I know I haven't centralised the text this time, but I only did it last time to highlight a change of perspective. Since this time it's only one perspective, and it seems easier to read text aligned to the left, I've kept it as normal.**

**~Ghost Attack- Majora's Mask (don't start it immediately if you're listening- trust me, you'll know when...)~**

* * *

_Perhaps you'd be interested to find out how 'The Ones with Teeth' came into being, hear how they charged into devastating reality from the unworldly pool of concepts..._

_Then again, you probably don't. There's very good reason why your predecessors chose to forget, and I'm sure you appreciate that._

_But I shall tell you anyway._

_You do remember Magikoopas I believe, which is to be expected I suppose. They're sorcerers, walking temples of the darkest magic._

_I'm going to ask you to forget the movies here. The movies protect you. Admit it- I say magic, and what do you think of? Cheesy Halloween costumes. Princes turned frogs. Love potions, bunnies in top hats, homework writing itself..._

_Centuries ago, magic was growing a forest in an eye's droop. It was, with the right master, anything._

_The Magikoopa community was, to put it mildly, gods. And the most astounding aspect of this was that they were benevolent gods. Helpful, friends to passion, their love was both personal and all-consuming._

_You would think that other mortals would fear them. If the gods were to sit in your neighbourhood and predict the days of your children unborn, wouldn't you learn what it means to fear? But the past was alien to the feeling, and its everyday language was 'community'. Magikoopas were brothers and sisters of all, and, like a family member, they worked within the mechanics that strengthened a home._

_They provided. Ancient scripts detail just a few of the situations where they had summoned nourishment or light for the starving or depressed. A widely recognised broadsheet paper around this time, 'The Closer News', included this quote from one of the millions that had been affected by their generosity:_

_"To say that I and the other villagers owe the Magikoopa that came to our call today our lives... That's an understatement. Fifty people, acres of failed crops, and he just looked at the mess and turned all the weeds into fruit trees! Long story short, I'm gonna have to get used to apple pie for supper."_

_Unofficially, they were also law enforcers. National police, though not entirely conventional. Nobody complained, however. Retribution, at first, was swift and befitted the crime's gravity. Thieves were doomed to transform their own coins into 'noins'- negative currency- upon touch, till their penalty had been fulfilled. Murderers were turned into colourless outlines of babies, to weep and be carried until they came to realise just how dependent they were on the existence and love of others._

_Nothing permanent. Not at first._

_Later on, their worlds-famous leader, Krota, passed away in his sleep. There were also rumours, however, that a radical Magikoopa had actually sneaked into his humble niche at the stroke of midnight and injected Krota's soul into a Blooper while he slept._

_At that time, Souper Blooper was a family delicacy._

_Whatever happened to Krota, a vacancy had still been made available. Just as the cardinals and the press flock to Rome as the new pope is chosen, the Magikoopas and almost everyone else waited in Renewal Land- the birthplace of the Magikoopas, so legend states- to cheer before the next elected leader._

_I will not describe the election procedure here, but suffice it to say, it involves trimming a young Pianta's tree while naked at midday, singing the Pipe Land national anthem backwards in the ancient language of the Spinys. Green Spinys, to be precise. At half speed._

_… fortunately, it makes no sense to me whatsoever._

_They came to a conclusion within a week. On the day the leader was announced, as per usual for these events, beams of prismatic colours were bursting through their underground domain. Parakoopas were heavily restricted on these days from flying overhead, in fear the lights would blind them. But the crowd around the centre was always huge, many of them having perched themselves in the trees to wait since Krota's death had been announced._

_By the dawn of twilight, a figure had risen from the soil. The tired suddenly had excess of energy, the cranky immediately jumping in joy. As tradition decreed, the first Magikoopa to re-enter the public eye was the one the supernatural had chosen to embody its powers. More than a representative, beyond being the hand of a god, whoever was selected out of the worthy and unworthy was God. The one to mould fate and to rip it apart, that was Him._

_As the unearthly lights dissipated away and the ancient figure raised an awesome wave to the audience, everyone burst into applause- some with a degree of discomfort._

_Before them stood Kaehero (ka-e-herr-oo), one of the most infamous wielders of magic at the time, with many well-versed works of his discussed in hushed whispers among his race._

_Coincidentally, he was also central to many rumours about Krota's death. Rumours that only grew._

_Very few of the people that knew of these tales refused to shake hands with Kaehero that night regardless, for in a world where everyone had been affected in some way by his kindred, the announcement of a new leader could only end up as a social event. Everyone celebrated that night- glory be to Kaehero!_

_It wasn't until later that they realised glory wasn't his main concern. Nor was it theirs._

_To some degree, the norms still lived on. Magikoopas still greeted non-Magikoopas like before, and collectively they still strived to dispel away any evils they came to face._

_Unfortunately, it seems they never used a mirror._

_Initially, the newfound ruthlessness was subtle. A middle-aged Koopa, for instance, had been sealed inside his magically-reinforced shell, his punishment for sexually harassing two young Goomba girls._

_"Very good work!" chimed the local Toad policeman. "So, sir, shall I fling this miscreant into the prison cell he deserves, hmm?"_

_"As you wish," croaked the Magikoopa responsible._

_"Ah, of course. Um, sir, just to know in advance: when abouts will you let this young idiot out of his shell? Does the spell run out once he's locked up?"_

_The Magikoopa's response was simple:_

_"Whoever said I was letting him out?"_

_Yet it was the first sign something had gone terribly wrong._

_The guilty suffered more than ever before, and more frequently did it turn out to be their last sufferings. Reformation was purged from the law's vocabulary._

_Not that Kaehero taught the law, of course. His only lesson was himself._

_Another time, a reckless Bandit had been pursued into a populated forest having unsuccessfully looted the wand of a Magikoopa resting by a lake. The Bandit had returned to its treehouse village without any hassle, and I imagine now that as he started to recuperate, he was just resting in his hammock, planning ahead for next time._

_His last thought as a congregation of Magikoopas incinerated everything inside the forest. The Sun was at its lowest point in the sky, meaning total extermination took longer than they were used to. A full second, in fact._

_I can only guess at what the other hundred creatures dreamt of as they burned._

_The only thing hotter than the ashes that night was the outrage. Governments condemned the obvious revenge, while Prime Ministers discussed deep underground about the possibility of magic inhibitors. Peace was not a possibility, not while the Magikoopas were capable of and willing to butcher it as they saw best._

_These discussions came to fruition when some of the speakers were incarcerated in nightmares by the wizards. It was the final reassurance they needed that what they would do was right. The plan was ready to launch early next morning._

_Every Magikoopa in creation, or at least, every Magikoopa recorded to exist by the authorities, was ordered to travel to the nearest town they could find for 'a day of significant importance.' It wasn't until they had arrived and been shoved inside a small cell, however, that they realised what it was they were in for._

_All across the worlds, the blue-cloaked sorcerers were locked in, five to one room, alongside with a Tech Cursya. It was impossible for them to hold their arms out or cast a spell, for the walls forced them together into an uncomfortable package in which there was no time to react. The alcove would shine with a challenge to the Sun as transcendent energy converted to light, and darken abruptly as the Cursya absorbed it from birth._

_That day, there were more screams in those rooms than the River Twygz would ever drown._

_Hundreds and hundreds of the Koopa wizards- virtually all- were stripped of all but the least of their powers. Rudimentary spells- teleportation, flinging weak magic attacks and so on- remained with them, but the Tech Cursyas had stolen all the rest._

_Everyone having gone through the system, the authorities proceeded to lock the Cursyas deep underground, where a series of trials, codes and locks would need to be overcome to ever find them again._

_The Magikoopas were enraged. Taking away their magic was like taking away their identities. They still had the potential to retaliate, that was true, but to fight against the myriads across the worlds…_

_They turned, like one vast organism, to their leader. Kaehero stood on the podium before his many desperate followers, waiting patiently for everyone to have returned to their lair. Every yell of despair the crowd threw at him, he batted an all-knowing look back._

_In a sense, he was a father figure to them._

_Even half an hour after they had all returned to him in Renewal Land, he remained casually silent. He thrived on suspense- it was the unspoken promises which swirled in his eyes that had appealed to the darkness. Just as it appealed to his faithful._

* * *

_Finally, he spoke._

_"Listen well, ye faithful!" he said. "The foolish ones that dared to defy us believe they have us at a disadvantage. They believe that we are in the wrong, that our lives themselves are wrong."_

_Meek agreement from the crowd filled his dramatic gap._

_"Brothers… sisters… they believe. Believe! Do they know of the mystical?"_

_A handful of Magikoopas gave a quiet reply._

_"Do they know!?" he raged._

_"No! No, they don't!" the crowd yelled._

_He smiled. "Do they know of absolute truth, or of the depths of the supernatural which they try to restrain?"_

_"No! They don't know!"_

_"And do they know of"- he whipped out a book from underneath his cloak- "this?"_

_The crowd gasped, terrified, as if he had just thrust out the demons themselves._

_In a sense, he had._

_The book he grasped was 'Forbidden'; literally, that was its title. A fitting title. It was gargantuan- trillions of pages, though judging by the exterior one would assume it closer to the thousands. The cover was plain, purple._

_The contents were anything but._

_Words and images littered the pages, none of them incited in peace. Every letter was a limb for a curse, the prop for a dreadful spell._

_The Magikoopas had realised this very early on. They didn't write a word in it- they had no clue who did- but they used it once before centuries ago._

_Once before._

_Since then, the book had been placed on a pedestal in the lair's vast library, out within reach of any Koopa that was interested. It wasn't well defended, but that was never the intention. It was meant to be seen. Shackles would blot out the book's malevolent aura, hiding it away would tease out the lust for a stooge to seek it out. Being within sight every day, on the other hand, meant that nobody would ever forget what it was they were dealing with._

_Or rather, what it was that would deal with them._

_It was expected that nobody would be foolish enough to even mention 'Forbidden', because to do so would be to praise the death and calamities that came about when this book was open._

_Kaehero opened it._

_"Do not fear it, friends." Several whimpers were audible from the back as he drew in his breath. "Yes, it has decimated our kind once before, that is certainly true. But what of the ruler? Was he not a buffoon? Were not eyes and souls washed away in that millisecond, out of wrath for the flesh he so loathed?"_

_Nobody dared speak._

_"I, however, am not prone to sentiment." He spoke in a stage whisper, yet everyone could hear. "Nor do I advocate mindless slaughter. But we have been slaughtered. The cattle have drank our magic- our blood- and now they have wasted it."_

_Kaehero peered unhurriedly at the page he had turned to. On it, red flames surrounded a colossal black sphere that bore ferocious fangs. The illustration was lifted high above the Magikoopas, now hovering over their leader._

_"Friends…" He smirked. "Now it's their turn."_

_~kaa kaaa kaaaa, kesru kest, kaa kestru,_

_koora koora koora, kerrek kerrek, kestru~_

_They were perhaps the greatest intellects of their time, but they didn't realise until the second line had been uttered what their venerable leader was doing._

_~koru urok, kezka kez, koru koru koru kez,_

_kizka kezka kez, kezka kizka kiz~_

_He was chanting the 'Breaker of Bonds', the enchantment that so very few individuals had been taught or had been willing to learn._

_~kitz koosa kitz, kooasa kooaz~_

_'Forbidden' didn't need any chains, for 'Forbidden' itself was the chains. Whatever sorcery was detained within it, the tired pages were crafted to preserve. This chant, however, unlocked the contents of whatever pages were open, revealing once again the dimension that had been sealed._

_~kari kari ki, koas kero~_

_The wizards closest to Kaehero's tranquil countenance could also see the pages that were exposed. MCDXLIII to MCDXLIV- or, to those in the know, 'The Ones With Teeth'._

_~kion keeta kreez kion keeta kreez~_

_At this point, excluding those most enamoured by Kaehero's will, the crowd realised they had found a shred of fact which they had somehow misplaced._

_~kaza keer KAAAAAAAAA!~_

_That Kaehero was utterly mad._

_They realised too late. The door was open, what lied within sucked the light out of the hall. The illustration was changing, shifting, becoming reality. The sphere-like demon displayed was growing, each canine elongating and honing by its desire. Two vast eyes opened, gradually, the burning intelligence behind them recalling its game._

_Mankind._

_It surged out of the cell it had known since its birth, never really identifying it as its cot. It had already moved on, for it had a need. A primal urge, if you will. And the world it had escaped into looked like it was not keen to leave its demons in want._

_It was hungry._

_Behind it, someone was exhibiting deep exultations- an odd contrast to the aghast people before it. The One With Teeth spun around, finding itself in the company of a wizard with great powers. It could feel these powers, taste them..._

_"Welcome, most welcome!" Or something to the same effect. Not that there was an effect- the demon was preoccupied in thought. "I am Kaehero, the key to your cell. The sole creature that would call upon you and your kind across the boundaries... The only one with the ambition to match the power! I have freed you- do you understand? Me."_

_Naturally, it understood. Irrelevant detail- grass is green, and this man set 'The Ones With Teeth' free. Knowledge didn't satisfy its hunger._

_"I have unleashed you. Now you, must unleash my will! Is my meaning clear?"_

_Clear as the air that evil sought to pollute. In that brief moment as it awoke itself to the stone-tile stage below it, a jumped-up cult figure to its left and malleable soldiers on its right, and all its comrades floating in eager anticipation inside the book above it, it found itself as its group. Ideas and plans were communicated through telepathy, the legion deciding on man's fate within the largest part of a second._

_It wanted... they wanted... blood. That was true. That was unavoidable, even for their intellect. Neurons and proteins adopted its values, building up its body for the pursuit of them. Blood screamed through its uncuttable veins, lonely. Each pinprick of it needed a nation as companion- a nation of blood. But giggles mixed in with the roar of the liquid army- nobody said this couldn't be fun too._

_"I said, is my meaning clear?"_

_Funnily enough, for someone so finely attuned to the elements that shunned the light, he wasn't quite capable of decoding the obvious. Not 'genre savvy', as some may describe it. The sharpest detail- that his influence could never, would never guide the way the demons act- passed by him._

_Its jaws, however, did not._

_I shall skip the stage where the crowd reacted- all flesh mourns and rebels when kindred flesh becomes still, and the Magikoopas were no exception. They resigned themselves after its eight short snacks._

_The Ones With Teeth poured out of 'Forbidden', ogling the distressed Koopa Wizards huddled by the walls. The breeze from the open book carried delicious sensations- the smell of blood, the bouquet of fearful men. The feel of death's cold hand._

_When the hall was on the verge of suffocating those cramped inside, the legion stopped evacuating 'Forbidden', anticipating the moment when more space was to be granted. There were twenty-one of them in the hall now, including their king, who had came out first. It never concerned itself with a name- the only names it knew of were prey and predator- but this king was later to be known as King Gnash. It looked precisely the same as any other of The Ones With Teeth, which was deliberate. Even if it still possessed the cunning that the others admired, it still wanted to feel indistinguishable from the pack. And it wanted its comrades to be indistinguishable from itself- this way, it would never be clear which creature was the brain of the mass, or consequently for their opponents, whether they had crushed it or not._

_It spoke in a plain guttural voice, disregarding Kaehero's previous vanity in speech._

_"I am your leader." Nobody moved. "That fool that dared to command us is no more. Us- you included. He asked that we 'unleash his will'. This will is deceased."_

_It turned to a hapless Magikoopa that was closest to the podium, who cried under its gaze._

_"You. Speak for your friends. What provoked our release?"_

_He snivelled. "K-kaehero… our leader-"_

_"Not anymore."_

_"Y-yes, not… not anymore… He released you because he… he needed revenge…"_

_King Gnash would have grinned, provided its mouth was capable of doing so._

_"Revenge. On?"_

_"The… well, everyone out there, I think. The people that took our powers away…"_

_"Then fight."_

_The Magikoopa was stupefied. "What- you… are asking us to fight?"_

_"That is what you want."_

_He gaped and stuttered briefly, struggling to maintain its sense of love and respect for those that had persecuted him and his kind. Then he crumbled._

_"Yes… we want war… But, why do you tell us to do so? Why have you not killed us yet?"_

_"Anyone that rebels against us is meat that values itself too highly. Do you want to rebel?"_

_Silence. The correct answer._

_"Then we shall lend you our power and leadership. You regain your abilities, we resume the hunt that has waited for centuries. You all may be of use to us."_

_The entire crowd nodded meekly, several of them pleading on their knees._

_"Though never forget that you are not essential to us. You are the sword that slays the wicked- but the swordsman has other means."_

* * *

_Within ten minutes, the Koopa wizards had sped from despair to design. They no longer had a weakling in charge, they had Strength manifested into legion. Their enemies had overestimated themselves._

_It was midnight, and soldier after soldier teleported their way out of their underground bunker- their lair had no doors. Mixed in among their ranks were The Ones With Teeth, who were similarly teleported through the help of the wizards. They spread the army across the meadows, like fire from a blaze. For every 30 men that left the shelter- or every one of the 'Gnashers', as The Ones With Teeth were crudely labelled- another Gnasher emerged from 'Forbidden' to occupy the new space._

_Along with the hundreds and hundreds of Magikoopas, a thousand Gnashers tore through the land and its people._

_You most likely have never heard of Renewal Land, that alluring haven where the people ran free and the plants shared their wealth. Nowadays, we know it as 'Dark Land'._

_As soon as news spread of the ruthless onslaught, war was declared. Diplomatic solutions were pointless and to be discounted, the governments had concluded; there was nothing to reason with behind a massacre of this magnitude._

_Little did they realise the massacre they were to send their troops into, day by day..._

_Nor could they comprehend the futility of their acts, that they were sending the pigs to be met by the axe..._

_And never did they understand that the axe did not rust. That it would outlive them all._

* * *

_… and that, fellow reader, is how The Ones With Teeth returned to your universe. That was the start of one of creation's darkest hours, and the event which could have made it its last._

_What, you ask? How could I know all this?_

_...personal experience, you see. It was long ago, I know, but my memory is intact, as is my body. Yes, everything was as I have described it._

_Pardon? How could I have possibly experienced the events going on in the Magikoopa lair?_

_Simple. I was there._

_I am King Gnash. King eternal. And the true feast has yet to begin._

* * *

**Heya! Two things I've mentioned here which you may not know unless you've played Super Paper Mario, so for the sake of comprehension:**

**(1)- Tech Cursyas- enemies from 'Super Paper Mario'. Touching one stops you from using the character's technique for a while, and each one looks like a googly-eyed, dancing purple column of frozen snot (kawaii desu! 3 )- EDIT- DAM U FF. Y U NO LEFT ANGLE BRACKET.**

**(2)- A lovely little place in Super Paper Mario. Listen to its theme if you don't believe me! Particularly if you're reading this at nighttime, having a few awkward sleeps in recent days, have an overriding fear of unknown voices and disharmonious tunes, or wear a single pair of pants. Oh, and bring your boy/girlfriend(s)!**


	14. Always Dreaming

**Okay guys and gals, so sorry this took so long to publish. I've been trying to focus on 'YTFF' instead and, honestly, I'm drying up. :( I hope to go back to it one day, but for now, I'm gonna try focus on this instead. Hope you enjoy! :)**

**~Fire Temple (chanting version)- Zelda: Ocarina of Time ~**

* * *

Dead arms reborn. A moustache that twitched. Eyes no longer tricked into dreaming they were devoured, a personality that no longer saw itself homeless outside the fat-

Mario sprung up from the dirt, and breathed. Though really he shouldn't be doing that. He couldn't. He was dead.

_Wasn't he?_

And it was odd, because so was Luigi. His dishevelled brother shouldn't be patting the dust off himself and climbing up to a stand like that, not at all. Not unless he was a zombie, of course.

_Was he a zombie?_ No, his hand was too warm. He could feel it through his glove as Luigi pulled him up, the life that was dancing through the green plumber's meat-

Meat? Was that really what he just thought?_ Meat? _That certainly sounded like a zombie-like thought, or whatever it was that runs through a zombie's head before it goes bashing down the village. Then, maybe _he_ himself- the famous Mario, no less- was the zombie. He was dead, after all, and in a sense he was still living. But then, that would mean he'd be a threat to Luigi. He'd devour him, convert him. That's what zombies do. And neither of them would want that.

He yanked his hand away, lest his undead touch could infect. His arm didn't rip under the pressure, though the tissue was meant to be weak. He was scared that it would, but it didn't.

_Scared._

_Were zombies ever scared?_ Nah. They don't think, nor fear. They don't use the word_ 'nah'_ in internal monologues, either.

So he wasn't a zombie.

So he was alive.

_And yet he had died._

"Young man, as stiff as my bones may be, my carcass is not yet to be utilised as your personal chair. Kindly _get off of me!_"

Mario's eyes shot down, startled, to see a cramped and confused Mayor Toadinbello underneath him. He apologetically leapt off the poor Toad he had tripped onto and offered to raise him up as Luigi had just done for him. The Toad was still mumbling obscenities as he straightened himself up against a muddy wall, the creaking of his bones managing to muffle the words enough.

The three of them had only just woken up- _or were they resurrected?_\- so it took a minute of standing around side by side until one of them attempted to address their situation. Whatever it was.

Toadinbello was first.

"Hmm? I hope no-one minds me stating the obvious, but we seem to be in a trench."

He was right- the once-fruitful soil positively stank with decay. Pushed around, made to contain the bones and lost weapons within its corridors- it was a trench. Empty of soldiers, apparently, though Mario could imagine that not all of the debris to their left was simple material. A pool of unclear water trailed through it- maybe not all of it was water.

Luigi sighed. "At least _that's_ obvious enough…"

"Though I am quite clueless as to why, why, _why_ we happen to be in a trench at all, bearing in mind we were just underground a minute ago."

Nobody could answer, so Luigi awkwardly moved on. "Um… I know this is kinda gross, but did anyone else feel for a moment that they were… _y'know_…"

Mario mimed spinning in mid-air, crashing onto his backside as his eyes closed painfully to the world.

"Yeah, that."

Three nods.

"All of us, then," confirmed the mayor. "It was very realistic, whatever we just witnessed. Though I don't quite grasp how it was represented to me- odd things, an '_ED-boi_' was mentioned, I recall? _What lunacy is that!?_"

"It doesn't make sense… No, wait, it _doesn't_ make sense!" Ideas were starting to teem from Luigi's mind, and he was bursting with ways to bridge all that had happened thus far. He turned eagerly to his brother, hands clasping his shoulders. "Say, Mario, d'ya think this could be linked to time crumbling in on itself? Like how we got to this time in the first place?"

Mario looked thoughtful. None of them were experts in the nature of time, but when you acknowledged that so many things seemed to have gone haywire once a threat to history itself was announced...

He nodded, regretfully. Regretting that their time was short.

Toadinbello was visibly disturbed- his eyes became younger, uncertain, yet his skin crumpled up at the same time, exposing his full set of wrinkles.

"W-what are you saying? That without a functioning timeline... without order, the laws of nature become... _meaningless?_ Is that the end of it, then? Just _chaos_?"

Mario glanced again at the slowly expanding pool behind him. The smell was uncomfortably familiar. He nodded.

The old Toad looked ready to burst, and neither of the plumbers could blame him. A mayor was meant to have power- where was the power in watching over your people, only watching while they rotted and shrank? He had no control over their most basic needs, what could he possibly hope to do when even nature's own sanity was beginning to rot?

He could die with everyone else. The only option. _What a bountiful reign._

He felt a warm rush of air behind him all of a sudden- the sea of those he was elected to defend, swimming towards him, soul by soul.

"Mayor, _look out!_"

And then he realised that it wasn't the dead he could feel, it was _death_, sweeping up behind him. It was the rush of heat, the heat from an explosion.

They were under attack.

"Quick! Run for it!" yelled Luigi, just the once. They darted along the uneven path, Luigi taking the lead. His hand dragged Toadinbello's own, squeezing it more tightly with every crash of energy they passed. The older Italian distanced himself from them to distract their foe- _foes_? There were two figures floating after them, maybe three, unless his vision was beginning to blur. Another two orbs of light crashed down near his feet, both he managed to flip over in time. But not away from the enemies, _towards_ them. He jumped off one wall, the next- and kicked.

His shoe collided- not with flesh, but with glass. The person he attacked squawked in surprise, a tinge of pain too as a shard scraped their eye. Now that Mario that blinked the dust out of his eyes, he could conclude upon two things. One being that, _yes_, it was three of them, all cloaked in blue though only two now wearing any glasses.

_The other thing was that he knew what they were._

They were more ferocious than the fifteen-spells-per-minute variety he had encountered in his own time, however. It wasn't time to attempt any full-combat yet, especially not when he was tired or unequipped. Jumping and sidestepping over every successive blast, he made his way along the trench towards his retreating friends. They turned a corner and vanished, just as another streak of magic toasted the ground where men once laid.

* * *

Two of their raging assailants were still wearing their murky specs, yet none of them could see anything unusual at all about the trench wall on their right. Nothing like, for instance, the clot of green stone so deeply embedded within it; no, not at all. They just flew by it, the one now rendered blind actually crashing just inches away from it. And yet still they didn't pause to investigate, not even turning back as they hovered along their new path into the far distance.

Had they noticed, though, maybe they would have found its dark green skin to be strange against the dull brown mud and the drying red stains. Out of place, really. It probably would have taken them a minimum of a second to analyse it, less than half of this time to press it down like the button it was. Then they could have watched as a green warp pipe quickly emerged out of the ground, and chortled menacingly, murderously. _Had_ they pressed it.

Thankfully, what they had missed, Toadinbello had not. And now, as he and the two brothers crawled down the pipe into the shelter below, the trio were literally gushing with relief. A tinge of fatigue, too.

Luigi smiled warmly at the old man before him, genuine gratitude illuminating his eyes.

"Mamma mia, another second and we'd have been toasted crostinis! Quick thinking, mayor!"

The gold-capped Toad chuckled in the dark as his breath continued to return to him.

"Ah, it was more a coincidence than anything, Luigi. I recall seeing one of these mechanisms once before. An old friend of mine- very rich- had something very similar in place to stash away most of his wealth. That button would've been just as meaningless to me as it had been to you, were it not for my friend."

"Well, however you knew, thanks for getting us out of the frying pan!" He just hoped that the bottom of this slope wouldn't turn out to be the fire.

Luigi coughed, dismissing the thought. "So, is everyone alright?" They checked themselves over: aside from a mild sprain in the Toad's right knee, the trio were relatively none the worse. "Those meanies out there," he asked, "who _were_ they?"

Mario began to speak, but was cut off by the elderly Toad.

"Magikoopas," he spat, "rogues. Foul sorcerers that have betrayed everything we value. _They_, gentlemen, are _the enemy!_"

Mario frowned- surely this war was meant to be against those shadowy Gnasher creatures instead?

Toadinbello shook his head mournfully. "Gnashers, Magikoopas, both are united in their persecution of us. Though, one could say it was the latter that was to blame for the whole thing... The Gnashers wouldn't even be around right now, were it not for them."

"Time."

The single unexpected word echoed through the pipe. Everyone jumped, Mario at the rear almost clanging his head against the cold metal inches above him. He shuffled closer to the rightward curve of the tube, allowing his head to twist back at the unknown speaker behind him. The supporting candlelight wasn't much, but it just barely touched upon the short figure that followed.

It was the other Toad- the one the mayor had shown them, locked away in the lower levels of Toad Town. From what Mario could decipher in his eyes, he seemed to have calmed down somewhat since their previous encounter with him.

Maybe a bit too calm. Mario thought about the zombies again.

His brother, unable to see behind him, shakily demanded to know who had just spoken. When Mario filled him in, he could almost feel Luigi's tension ebb away into the ether.

"Oh, you're here too!" exclaimed Luigi. "Sorry if we abandoned you, we didn't see you-"

"Time," interrupted Mucho, "time is broken."

Luigi stared at him. Or, at least that was what he would have done. "How do you know?"

"I've seen him. The one who did it. He who broke time with a blade."

The conversation froze. Nobody knew quite how to respond to such a matter-of-fact statement. In any case, Luigi could now see a brighter end to the tunnel, and the silence almost felt natural as they crawled out one-by-one to investigate their new setting.

The time-travelling plumbers were almost disappointed with what they saw- the entrance looked almost exactly like the one they found below the Letmia Inn. Dull, drabby surfaces... and no reception. _For now._ This time, however, the hint of life was much greater than before. Indistinguishable voices could be heard coming from every open doorway, of which- excluding the entrance- there were five. Vibrations could be felt under their feet, caused by the ceaseless marching that almost defined the scene.

It was a dugout- a huge one. The size impressed. The interior design (or lack of) did not.

Longing for the elegant shades of orange Daisy had woven around her room, Luigi stared wistfully into the distance. His eyes transcended history itself, all for a feeling that the years could not diminish.

"Time is broken," repeated Mucho in a mechanical tone. Regurgitating a script he couldn't feel- that's how Luigi thought it sounded. Mario didn't look very vocal at the moment, nor did the mayor, so it seemed _once again_ it was up to Luigi to talk to the weirdos...

"Can you tell us, _um_-"

"Mucho."

"Ah, thanks." He smiled encouragingly at him. "Can you tell us, Mucho, who is this big bad you saw?"

"His name… is Operis."

Luigi scratched his chin in thought, slightly surprised at the subtle beard he could feel growing on it."'_Operis_', huh? Ever heard of him, Mario?" Mario grunted a negative. "Ah, well, he shouldn't be that much trouble anyhow. I mean, _Operis_? Sounds like a rubbish original character that someone beyond the screen dreamt up in an hour. We can take him, right, bro?"

But his bro wasn't listening. He was too busy watching as a dozen Koopa soldiers swarmed into the foyer with their firearms steadily raised, never directing their aim anywhere but at them as they closed them off in a semicircle. Three guns pointed between each pair of eyes, and they stayed that way.

_"Waaaaahhhhhh!"_ Luigi zoomed away in a flash, and before Mario knew it he could feel his timid brother's hands patting his back and pushing him forwards. _"Bro, it's all yours!"_

"Stay where you are!" commanded a new voice.

Mario peered closely at the shadow-covered figure that was marching from westernmost corridor, and jolted back in shock. It was a Clubba, a creature which he had met the likes of several times in his travels. But this one was shockingly unique. True, it still retained most of the basic features of its kind- green skin, spiked mace, small black shell over the long tail, and so on- except for one major difference. This Clubba was _pure muscle_, with not a pebble of fat on him at all. There were muscles bulging out in every area, even areas Mario never guessed had existed. Roughly speaking, this one looked just as broad as the stereotypical Clubba, but twice as tall- easily taller than Luigi.

He imagined the brawny Clubba standing around in a gym recording adverts for some new brand of protein powder, but quickly blanched when the mental image of him in a tight-fitting black thong came to mind and blinded his soul.

_... there was Bowser-wrong, and then there was... that..._

The Clubba pushed through to the centre of his group, staring down each of Mario's friends in turn. Even the mayor seemed slightly fazed by his proportions - clearly Clubbas like this were rare even in this time.

Luigi looked beyond fazed- having a mental breakdown seemed more accurate. His every detail was one of fear, and Mario worried for him.

Luigi caught the concerned look that lingered on Mario's face, and inwardly, he smirked. That look must have meant he'd appeared to be completely terrified, and that was good. He wasn't at all terrified- he was cunning. Covered away behind his brother and his mask of faintheartedness, nobody would suspect a thing. He'd be the picture of innocence, up until the very moment he was ready to _pounce..._

"State your names and identities," bellowed the fit old Clubba, "all of you!"

Mario turned to Toadinbello for support, but the elderly mayor already seemed to be taking the initiative. He stepped between the two groups, looking straight at the Clubba.

"Sir, I am Mayor Toadinbello of Toad Town," he declared. "Put down your weapons, I know and trust these people."

The brawny Clubba lowered its spiked mace almost instantly, a sheepish grin gracing his chiseled face. The armed Koopas behind him quickly followed suit. Mario was confused at first about why they would take Toadinbello at his word without any proof having been offered, until he realised how uncommon a gold-capped Toad was even in his own time. It probably served like a crown of sorts, reassuring the public that whoever wore it was a Toad of high status- in this case, a mayor.

"Mayor? Oh, forgive me, I've not been up to scratch with politics recently, _just killin'_." The Clubba's grin widened, though not necessarily out of mirth.

_Luigi pounced._

"Major Clubs at your service, sir. Sorry about my rudeness-"

Luigi's eyes widened with realisation, moments before he tried to shift off-target. He managed to cancel his attack in time- and inadvertently smacked hard into the wall before him instead. One Koopa turned in his direction briefly, just to pick his nose, but that was all the attention he would get as his nose skidded down to the floor.

"-your arrival was just unexpected, truth be told. If I may ask, what are you all doing here, here in the _burial grounds_ as us fighters call 'em?"

"Well, we…" Toadinbello trailed off- where to begin..? After a short hesitation, he went straight to the point. "Major Clubs, you may be able to help us. My colleagues here are on a mission of national security, the failure of which may devastate us all. I cannot go in-depth here, but suffice it to say you would be doing your kingdom a great honour by helping them to get to their destination."

The major's expression conveyed no emotion. "Hmm. What destination?"

"What destination? _What destination! (What destination..?)_ Why, er…"

"The forest," Mucho intoned.

The Clubba ruminated over this very quickly, and finally his posture seemed to relax. "Ahh, gotcha. That's not too far away, and I guess our opposition at present is just a mosquito on the chin… Sure, I'll give ya four of my best men to escort you. Let me just find them…"

While Mario had no doubt about how useful the four soldiers he had in mind would be on their journey, whether he or Luigi had the strength to progress on immediately was questionable. Aside from slips of unconsciousness- _death_ in one case- and one interrupted sleep, they hadn't rested properly since they were in the Mushroom Kingdom of the present day. He decided to stop the major mid-stride and raise the issue with him.

The Clubba rubbed his red cap patronisingly, completely oblivious to Mario's discomfort at such an intimate gesture. "Tuckered out, are you?" He laughed. "Well, there shouldn't be much action around in the next few days, so I suppose you'll be fine sleeping around here for the night." With that, he wished them all a pleasant rest and quickly dispersed among with the rest of his men. Off to be the shade for the rest of his men.

One of the Koopa soldiers that had held them at gunpoint stayed behind and offered to show them the sleeping quarters they would be free to use. He guided them down a intricate complex of lacklustre corridors, each one just as utilitarian and wide as the last. Many varieties of lifeforms were marching by or talking along them, mostly in pairs but with the occasional quartet. Luigi could recognise some of them- Hammer Bros., Snifits, Gloombas (the latter of which, he acknowledged, seemed to be larger in number than the regular Goombas)- but he cursed Mario for the adventures he had been denied access to when the names of creatures he had never once encountered simply rolled off Mario's tongue like a fountain of knowledge.

After a dozen or so turns, the polite Koopa that had escorted them stopped between two separate doors. These rooms turned out to be the only two with vacancies. Mario, the mayor and Mucho took the left room which, as according to the shared design of every other room, featured two bunk beds and very little besides. Luigi politely declined and opted for the other, lying that he wanted to write in his diary in privacy. When he closed the door to his room behind him, he couldn't help but burst out in a medley of giggles. Peace, _at last_... and no need to worry about his brother's snoring..!

There was one other thing he was hoping to get, and he made sure he was quick to receive it. Still laughing to himself, he clambered up the rungs onto the top bunk of the nearest bed, feeling on top of the world.

_'Well,'_ thought Luigi,_ 'that's another wish sorted, I guess! Next on my list, I'm-a gonna have to pester Mario about that little chowder incident I keep hearing about... I've still no clue how Wendy Koopa's meant to fit in with it all, I gotta say...'_

A yawn suddenly pushed at his lips, and he struggled to hold it in. It surprised him how quickly his body adjusted to the fact he was about to sleep, when less than an hour ago it was pumping adrenaline around him _like_... like whatever he could make a good comparison with if his mind wasn't so busy shutting down. He yawned again.

Another yawn._ It wasn't him this time._

There was a young Toad- _early twenties?_\- walking right into the middle of the room, casually ignoring the gaping Italian that was leaning out at him from the bed. He was perceptibly sulking, scratching away the green of his relatively fresh army uniform while muttering unintelligibly to himself. Luigi resolved to not make any sort of comment- everyone had their personal demons to deal with, after all, and this guy didn't seem like the type that would appreciate a knight in shining armour trying to slash them away for him.

What Luigi didn't count on was the Toad grabbing the pine ladder of his bunk bed and reaching up to join him.

"Err, hello?" said Luigi. "Sorry, I thought somebody said this room wasn't in use by anybody..." The Toad kept climbing as if he couldn't hear a thing. "The bottom bunk's free, you know..."

The Toad had reached the top before he had even stopped talking, and proceeded to lie down on top of the auburn bedsheet with all his clothes kept tightly on, just like Luigi was at that moment. Both were in a foetal position, though the Toad wasn't cowering against the wall.

"Look, er... I'm-a Luigi, and I, um, don't really _swing_ that way, man. I like... _girls_... I mean, I've got a princess back home to be thinking of, y'know? ... well, actually, I guess, really, she'd _want_ to see something like this, she seems that type that'd try to cheer us on and- oh, _please_ just get out!"

If anything, the boyish Toad seemed to wriggle himself even closer. Luigi smothered his sighs in his army-green pillow, feeling more tired than he could ever recall. First Wilder Smush, now this... The people of this time were more flexible with their perspectives than he had imagined.

"Look," he sighed, "if you're gonna be so territorial about this, then fine, I'll go and be the bigger man. _(Goodbye, top bunk..!)_"

Luigi moved to sit up, sending a piercing glare the Toad's way. If they were kart racing right then... _oh, he'd show him territorial_... He lunged over his unwelcome bedmate as he reached for the ladder to climb down, but his balance suddenly shifted and he found himself falling onto the stubborn Toad's warm body.

Falling _into_ the ghostly Toad's cold body.

_'What..?'_

He had landed _through_ him. There was no sensation of cotton under his chest, no inhale-exhale motion pushing him gently up and down.

_He had landed through him._ He wasn't real. He, he was-

"A g-g-g-ghost!" screamed Luigi. He could hear the panic in his voice, except he didn't have a voice. Suddenly his vocal cords had abandoned him, just as immaterial as his companion which had paralysed him. Nothing in his body was working, not even his ability to sense his surroundings. The Toad- who was named Toadkay, though Luigi couldn't tell how he came to learn this- had taken him to a land without land, where pain and relief were anomalies to exist, where good and evil amounted to just puppies and eggs.

_'P-puppies and... eggs? Why am I thinking about that?' _wondered Luigi. They were guests in his mind- paying the rent but refusing to stay. He was learning. He was forgetting. Thinking of every other thing and more, including his past. Some words he had heard...

_'Do you understand it? The souls we had feared had fallen into the Minus World… just jumped back in, as if 'continues' just grew on trees!'_

_'...and, they were not alone. Within these walls, there have been sightings of… ghosts.'_

The mayor. Ghosts. Like those two children near Peach's Castle, running around in circles...

_Toadkay_. Luigi was feeling something. He was feeling his life. Noticing every shake as the web of time on which he hung began to crumble.

He had dreams that night. Birth. Confusion. He walked, he spoke- '_dada_', much to his mom's chagrin. School, friends. _More than friends._ No more friends. Emptiness. Empty heart, empty rifle. Then bullets in the rifle. Bullets out of the rifle, reload. Then bullets everywhere. _In him._

Finally, a man. Comfort. A stranger, but comfort. Kind words.

And_ 'see you later.'_ Then back to_ 'dada'._

He dreamt of his ghostly bunkmate that night, suffocating under their life. Their screams of being born and never born, dying and staying dead, over and over until the tiles of history cracked underneath his feet. The light and the dark tumbled down with him, until the first and only moment when they weren't.

He wasn't dreaming.

* * *

**So, um, if this doesn't make any sense, I'm afraid you're nowhere near high enough. MARIJUANA, MAAAAAAAAANNNNNN**


End file.
